RAILWAY FINANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21981, 16 June 1933, Page 10

RAILWAY FINANCE

NET REVENUE INCREASE CURTAILMENT OF EXPENDITURE ■■. . I (Per United Peess Association.) AUCKLAND, June 15. An increase in the net revenue of £951 U revealed in the preliminary figures of the financial operation of the railways for the four-weekly period ended May 27. The returns, which were made available to-day by the chairman of the Railways Board (Mr H. H. Sterling), show that the revenue for the period was £184,082, compared with £484,993 in the corresponding period of last year. The favourable balance was created by further decreases in expenditure, the total for the period being £404,603, against £406,465, thus leaving a net revenue increase of £951. For the first two periods of the financial year, from April 1 to May 27, revenue totalled £976,561, compared with £1,007,766 last year, and the expenditure aggregated £787,418, against £826,551, showing an increase in the net revenue for the period of £7928. Mr Sterling said that, while he had not yet had an opportunity of analysing the figures, he considered that the comparatively small decrease in the revenue for the .four-weekly period gave cause for satisfaction. With the increasing difficulty of effecting further reductions in the expenditure, the revenue side provided the key to the future financial position of i the railways. It was, therefore, very gratifying to find that the gross revenue showed signs of being maintained at its existing levels, 1 and, of course, it was satisfactory to note that the curtailments of expenditure _ were still more than offsetting the decline in revenue. Comment was also made by Mr Sterling on the working of branch lines throughout the Dominion during the past financial year. “'There is a good deal of satisfaction to be derived from the working of these lines, although there is still some leeway to be made up,” Mr Sterling said. There was a net improvement in the return of £56,721,_ a decrease ,in the revenue of £8427 being several times compensated for by decreases in the expenditure amounting to £65,148. “I would like to say that inferences must not be drawn too readily from the figures,” Mr Sterling added. “We have not yet had an opportunity of analysing them. All that can be said itf that while an improvement has been made which can be regarded with some satisfaction, there is still a good deal of leeway to make up.”