BIG DEFICIT ON YEAR'S WORKING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18465, 17 May 1928, Page 12

BIG DEFICIT ON YEAR'S WORKING.

LOSS ON RAILWAYS TOTALS £293,479. FIGURES ANNOUNCED BY PRIME MINISTER. Per Press Association. PAPAROA. May 16. Details of the railway earnings and traffic returns of the financial year to March 31 were supplied by the Prime Minister, Mr Coates, in a speech at Paparoa to-night. The gross earnings were £8,032,943 against £8.434,654 in the previous year. Working expenses were £6.685.123' against £6,490.880, leaving a net revenue of £1.347.820 and £1.943.<<4 respectively. Subsidies on developmental lines were £459.56S compared with £445,221. and interest charges £2.130.867 against £2,043.433. The deficit for the vear was £293,479 compared with £99,659 in 1927-28.

The Prime Minister said the revenue showed a small increa.se of £43.510 which, taking into account the difficult conditions ruling throughout the year, must be regarded as satisfactory. The number of railway passengers decreased by 623,000 and the passenger revenue by £159,000, but this loss was to some extent set off by an increase of 650.000 passengers and £24,000 revenue from bus services. The revenue from goods traffic increased by £54.000. The number of cattle carried increased by 69.000, sheep and pigs by 402,000, and goods traffic by 114,000 tons. A decrease of 93.000 tons in timber traffic was partly attributable to *he falling off in the demand for house construction, the abnormal shortage of houses that existed after the war having been overtaken to a very great extent. One of the most striking features in the goods traffic statistics was the verj- large increase in the quantity of fertiliser carried during the past two years. In 1926 the total quantity carried was 312,000 tons, while in 1928 it had increased to 586,000 tons, an increase of S 8 per cent. The reductions in railage made as a matter of Government policy amounted in the year just closed to £107,000. The working expenses of the railways and subsidiary services increased by £194,000, the chief contributing factors being railways £144,000, the increased number of dwellings provided for employees £25,000, and bus services £24,000. The increase in railway expenses was due very largely to the greater mileage of line worked, the provision of better services and to the handicaps imposed by the construction of new works which had not yet been brought into full use. Interest charges increased by £87,000, the interest burden on works under construction which have not yet become reproductive amounting to £75,000.