RAILWAY REVENUE.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1934, Page 6

RAILWAY REVENUE.

The railway returns for the four weeks that ended on August 18 continued the satisfactory record of increasing revenue. With one exception, the five returns published since the commencement of the financial year have shown improved earnings, and in the one period in which this did not apply the reason for the drop was that advance maintenance expenditure had raised the costs unduly. The net revenue over expenditure since last March, as shown by the four-weekly returns, has been £300,690, as compared with £247,780 last year, an increase of nearly £53,000 and an improvement of almost £86,000 over the position in the middle of August, 1932. There has been no exceptional reason for boosting railway traffic during the winter months, and the increased earnings may therefore be assumed to be due to a return of traffic to the railways and some improvement in the volume of trade. The effect of the attempts at co-ordination of road and rail traffic are having some effect. So also are the efforts of the department to meet competition by increasing and improving its services. The decision to reinstate express services between Dunedin and InvercargiU, cancelled during the worst of the depression, is another indication that railway business is improving, and that the improvement is considered likely to be permanent. In framing the Budget the Minister of Finance forecast a decrease in the net railway revenue of £135,000, but the indications at present point to a more favourable result of a full year’s working. Despite the criticisms of a certain class Of politician it is quite evident that the non-political control of the railway system is proving a success, though there is a long way to go before that success can be considered complete. t