RAILWAY FINANCE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19897, 27 March 1939, Page 14

RAILWAY FINANCE

- MINISTER’S DEFENCE CONTROL BY LABOUR WORKING EXPENSES REPLY TO MR. ILVMILTON i (Per Press Association.) • AUCKLAND, this day. “Nobody should be more aware than Mr. ‘ Hamilton of the futility of endeavouring to fool the people of New -Zealand for all or even some of the time. He and the party he leads received a salutary lesson in this regard at'the elections held in November. 1935,. and the lesson was repeated with. e'jnphasis at the recent general elections towards tire end of last year,:’ said the. Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, in replying to a statement made at Rotorua by the .Leader of the Opposition, to the effect that the railways were not paying working expenses. . "Such a statement can only be .attributed to unthinkable ignorance -such as one would scarcely expect .from a man occupying Mr Hamilton’s position, or it may be. merely another ~j>ha|e of the old game of at 1 -' tempting to fool the people. “The position is that the official figures quoted by me and to which Mr. Hamilton referred are in no way contradicted by him, but he endeavours to bolster up a contention that the railways are not paying working expenses by. comparing a full year’s Working on the one hand with only 3; portion of a year on the other hand omitting, of course, the three or four months of the year during which the department’s traffic is the busiest and the larger proportion of its net revenue is accumulated.” Expeneses and Revenue

. For the information of the general public and to indicate the effect of the months omitted from Mr. Hamilton’s comparison,” said Mr. Sullivan, ■‘.yt, would point out that the percentage of working expenses to revenue from was 99.21, and not 103.5 as mentioned by Mr. Hamilton, while the latest figures available to me from April 1, 1938, to March 4, 1939, show the percentage of working expenses as 94.70 of the revenue.

“I confidently anticipate that the accounts for the year*ended March 31 next will show working expenses as about 92.5 per cent of the gross revenue, giving a net revenue of approximately £700,000.

“Mr. Hamilton states that for the year prior to the increase cif fares and freights on December 11 last, it cost the Railway Department £lO6 to earn every £IOO. Official figures show that for the year prior to December 11, 1938, the working expenses were 95.54 per cent of the revenue. “Mr. Hamilton quotes the figures for 1935 and 1936 for comparison with those of the current year, but he omits ’to state that, by means of wages and salary cuts during the two years referred. to, an amount exceeding £833,000 was filched from the employees of the department to swell the net revenue and to make an improved showing in the returns. Additional Maintenance

“On previous occasions, too, I have pointed out that my Government has had to make additional provision for maintenance to the amount of many hundreds of thousands of pounds because of the cuts imposed in that respect by'Mr. Hamilton’s Government. “Even when dealing with minor matters in the latter portion of his speech, Mr. Hamilton was apparently unable to confine himself to the facts when he referred to the increases of up to 50 per cent in minor charges which,” said Mr. Sullivan, “have not been made and also when he states that an increase has been made in the charge for sandwiches at railway refreshment rooms, which is also contrary to fact. He is possibly blaming the present Government for an increase in. the price of sandwiches which was imposed under the previous Government and subsequently removed.

“The Government,” concluded Mr. Sullivan, “is ,not looking for a scapegoat in the matter of its administration generally, nor insofar as its railway policy is concerned. It is quite prepared to accept full responsibility for its actions without having recourse to the establishment of an independent board behind which previous Governments have to take shelter.

"AH the Government desires is to place the facts fully before the people and_ to ask “their critics, especially those holding highly responsible political positions, to' adhere closely to tfiff facts when making public statements.”