THE MUNICIPAL TRADING ACCOUNTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20075, 16 April 1927, Page 12

THE MUNICIPAL TRADING ACCOUNTS.

The results of the operations of the municipal trading enterprises for the past financial year should afford a good deal of gratification to the local community, They do not compare favourably, it is true, with those of the preceding twelve months, but that was a period that was so exceptional that a truer comparison of the results for 1926-7 ia one with 1924-5. It will be seen from the particulars that are published elsewhere in this issue that the profits for the past year were £1193 in excess of those for 1924-5. As they were secured on a larger capitalisation they do not 'furnish a proportionate return that is equal to that of two years ago, but when all the details in connection with the accounts are made available, it will probably bo found that they will show that the results are in practically all respects about as satisfactory as those for the year that we have selected for comparative purposes. For instance, the profits of the electr’c tramway system are shown to be over £3OOO less than they were in 1924-5. Against the tramway revenue for the past year, however, was charged an abnormal amount of maintenance work, which the tremendous demands on the services prevented the department from undertaking during the Exhibition season. The actual loss on the Roslyn tramways, moreover, is readily explained by the heavy expenditure which had to be incurred during the past year in the renewal of plant and permanent way and which, with ordinary good luck, should be non-recurrent for many years, although, of course, the City Council is still faced with the need i r providing an improved service on this line. A drop is exhibited also in the profits of the Mornington tramway service, but the throe departments which yield the largest returns electric power and light, the gas, and the water departments—.show substantial increases, and it is worthy of note, and may perhaps he regarded as surprising, (hat the profits of the gas department have increased more largely

in the past two years than those of the electric power and light department. Taken as a whole, the results may bo taken as an evidence that, whatever faults may be found with the management of the municipal undertakings, these are concerns that are being generally conducted upon sound lines.