THE RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1106, 27 August 1880, Page 2

THE RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

Thk railway traffic returns.up to 26th June have just been gazetted.. They continue to be .of a very favorable nature. The total receipts for the first quarter of the current financial year (less five days) amounted to £213,125, ot which the working expenses absorbed 62 per cent. , leaving 48 per cent., net profit towards interest on cost of construction, being at the rate of nearly 3£ ' per cent, per annum The Chrißtchurch section of the Amberley-Kingston main trunk line 3till continues to be the most productive of all, showing 58 per cent, of the receipts as net profit towards interest, and the receipts for the whole 755 miles returned the high average of £965 per mile, of which 42 • per cent, was net profit, being at the rate of as nearly as possible £400 per mile. Among the •>ther main lines, the Wellington Railway took £604 per mile and spent 86 per"; cent. ; Auckland took £571 and spent 71 per cent. ; Napier took £389 and spent 83 per cent ; Wanganui took £375 and spent 70 per cent. This leaves the respective net profits per mile as follows :— Auckland, £161 ; Wanganui, ,£110; Wellington, £80; Napier, £64. The branches and " politic " railways acted their usual part of -_" suckers " instead of " feeders. "' The Picton line swallowed up all its receipts but £1 13s 7d, in working.: expenses. The Lawrence,' Outram, JRiverton, and Otautau branches of Otagoi the. Eyreton and Waftnate braridhes'lh: Canterbury, the Kaipara in -Auckland, and the Westport in Nelson 'district aJI not only swallowed up the whole of their receipts in working expenses, but, showed a deficit of from 3 So 39 per cent, beside, the . average de- ' ficienuy oh those lines beiSg nearly 20 per cent.,, which, of course, had to be made good out of tKe profits of the legitimate lines. It is, very desirable that either some cheaper mode should be devised of working these ■unremunerative railwars-^auch: as that which we have often suggested— or else that trains should run only d'ccasiohally. Otherwise the districts beneMing^by 'the lines should be taxed tor make up, the deficiency!. It:is mosiraunfair that "the. entire Colony; Bhojudji^biej taxed;-, to : keep open such political ''-jobs " of railways as those we have , referred = to. . ' Comparing the detailed return .with ihose for the .corresponding period of last, year some curious anomalies .present themselves. ■ For instance, there has latterly been, a persistent decrease^ in the number of Ist class passengers, conveyed on nearly all. the lines, but a large increase in the second-class passengers. In this instance, however, we find that, although the. rule still holds good in regard to the Auckland, Greymouth, Nelson, and Picton sections, it is exactly reversed on the Wellington; Wanganui, and Kaipara lines, all of which had an increased number of firstclass passengers, and a diminished number in the second class. The AmberleyKingston section showed an augmentation in both classes ; the Napier and Westport lines a falling off in both; The lessons taught by these returns generally are very plain and simple ones. They are, first, that legitimate . and proper main lines will pay fairly well, but that branches as a rule will not, and that political railways are a dead loss to the Colony. Secondly, it; is of the .most urgent importance that our engineers should lay aside for awhile the stereotyped red tape-rules - of- railway praotice,and bring their inventive faculties into play to perfect "some less 'expensive method of working these non-paying sections. The grand desideratum is a lighter class of rolling-stock, capable of being run by a reduced staff, at a speed of 10 or 12 miles an hour, which is. ample for such lines. . With the practical evidence daily and hourly before our eyes of what hah been accomplished in this direction by our city tramway— the engines and cars of which, with a very trifling alteration in the wheel-flanges, would exactly fulfil the requirements above indicated— the accomplishment of this ought to be a very easy matter to such able mechanical engiueers as we have in our public service.