The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1909. MAKING THE RAILWAYS PAY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13836, 23 February 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1909. MAKING THE RAILWAYS PAY.

The Hon. J. A. Millar lias set himself the task of making the railways pay £3 15s per cent, on their cost, instead of the £3 6s 8d they paid last year. What does this mean to the users o\ the railways? According to the official returns, the cost of opened lines at the end of March last (2474 miles) was £24,365,647, and the gross revenuo last financial year was in round numbers, £2,762,000. The difference between £3 6s Sd and £3 15s per cent, on the total cost is £101,525, or about one-twentyeighth of the gross revenue. In order to have earned this . extra £101,525, the charges on last year's traffic should have been increased by about ninepence in the pound, or .45d (less than a half-penny) in the shilling. Would it have hurt anybody to have paid this extra amount? We should say that it would not have been felt so much as to have lessened the traffic appreciably, or to have been burdensome on anyone. But supposing it is sought to increase the revenue by increasing charges, there seems to be reason for retaining such great differences as there arc between long and short distance traffic, especially in passenger fares. One would think that the"peonle who furnish the goods traffic, those who fill the trucks on the branch lines, should receive consideration of that kind rather than those whose long journeys in the majority of cases moan holiday-making. Mr Millar says he does not wish to increase the charges, and would rather gain liis end—33 per cent—by means of economies. The public will be greatly interested in knowing the result of his efforts, where they are applied, and the details of each case.

As wc have said before, the accounts ougbo to be. published of the receipts n>id expenditure of each section and branch lino. The annual volume of Statistics gives a table of the first cost cf each, in surveys and construction, permanent way and rolling stock, how. much was paid for lines purchased, and how much was paid by provincial governments. These mix up ancient and modern history, and are of very little use to anybody. A table of no larger dimensions giving the annual receipts and expenditure would be of great use and interest, if only as explaining where the great loss occurs on the Hurunui-Bluff line and branches. This important portion of the whole—l2Bß miles, or 51 miles more than half the total mileage of open lines—last year earned only £2 7s lOcl per cent, on its cost, while the next largest sections, Wcllington-Napior-New Plymouth, 490 miles, earned £4 lis 8d per cent., and Ivaipara-Auek-lnnd-Waikato, 395 miles, earned £3 17s per cent. The difference in the cost of the sections does not explain it. The Hurunui-Blnff section and branches cost an average of £9315 per mile (the main line, 454 miles, £10,472 per mile); the more profitable Auck-land.-division nearly as much, £9228 per mile; and the much more profitable Wellington division considerably more, nearly £11,500 per mile, and the interest stated was earned on this higher, cost. Included in the mileage of the Hurunui-Bluff division are 883 i miles of branches, one of them being the Otago Central, 135 miles. This line cost over £20,000 per mile, and it would be interesting to know .what this expensive line is earning. It is • a common opinion that it "doesn't pay for axle-grease," and if axle-grease is the last item paid for, that opinion is probably correct. Beside the'-ques-tion . of making the railways pay by raising rates or cutting down services, there is the alternative of endeavouring to make them pay by increasing the traffic through closer settlement . of the land, and in this direction there ' lies a wide and useful field for cooperation between' the Ministers of Lands and Railways.