RAILWAY INTEREST PAYMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 8

RAILWAY INTEREST PAYMENTS

QNLY half of the truth was told by Sir Joseph Ward when he stated: ‘‘The writing off of £8,100,000 of railway capital effected by legislation passed last session resulted in the interest receipts from the railways being £310,000 below the amount allowed for in the estimates.” The £8,100,000 which was written off represents the amount contributed to the Railway capital from the public revenue of the Dominion. Interest on this sum at 4 1-8 per cent, amounts to £334,125. Having written off the capital, Sir Joseph Ward could hardly have allowed for it in his estimates. The interest on the branch lines and the subsidy for losses on isolated sections totalled £496,578. The Consolidated Fund was relieved of this obligation for last year, so Sir Joseph Ward, as Finance Minister, is on his own showing in last year’s budget statement, £162,453 better off than he would be if the writing down of the railway capital had not taken place. The action taken in writing down the capital value of the Railways made for clearness, and Sir Joseph Ward can take credit for it, but to try and present the rearrangement as an additional burden to the Consolidated Fund when it is a relief is likely to rob him of that measure of praise which is his due. A Finance Minister should present the whole facts of the case, not half of them. Such conduct destroys public confidence.