THE RAILWAY SERVICES.

Waipa Post, Volume XX, Issue 1244, 18 May 1922, Page 4

THE RAILWAY SERVICES.

DEPARTMENT'S DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED.

STATEMENT BY MR MASSEY.

(By Telegraph. Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, This Day. In a statement that night on the position of the railways, Mr Massey explained some of the difficulties under which the Government and the Railway Department are working. He made it clear that in his opinion a further increase in charges to tlie public at the present time was inadvisable. He said the costs of operating were due to increased prices of material, stores, and wages, which, compared with 1915, had increased by 130 per cent, while the rates for the carriage of passengers and goods had been raised by only 25 per cent and 40 per cent respectively for the same period. The slump in trade last year had reflected itself in the railways, and the 25 per cent and 40 per cent additions were not sufficient to maintain a proper balance in the. Department's accounts, and the fall in prices of the country's products made it impracticable to seek to adjust the balance by still further raising the charges. Continuing, Mr Massey said stocks of coal which the Department had obtained in order to maintain its obligations to.the public had been purchased at 298 per cent above the price. in 1915, and the service would continue to be charged at that rate until such time as the stocks were reduced. The arrears of repair, which work accumulated over the war period, when men were released for active service, must inevitably increase the expenditure for this year and several years to come. The bonus reduction took effect' too late in the year to have any marked effect upon the total sum expended. Throughout the world (said Mr Massey) losses upon railways, whether State or company-owned, had been general. So far as the present rates were concerned, every effort was being made to remove anomalies, but the imperative necessity of conserving every penny of revenue prevented the Government from going as far as it would like to in the way of reducing the charges to users of the railways.