BUSY RAILWAY YEAR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 125, 27 May 1944, Page 3

BUSY RAILWAY YEAR

RECORD GROSS REVENUE i INCREASE IN EXPENDITURE p SUM PUT BY FOR DEFERRED j MAINTENANCE (P.A.) Wellington, May 25. “The close of the financial year ended March 31, marked the end of the , busiest year in the railway history of , New Zealand,” said the Minister of Railways, Mr. Semple, to-day. “Gross , revenue reached a record figure of £15,325,306, and exceeded that of the i previous year by £1,196,313, or 8.7 per , cent. “Had it not been necessary to im- • pose restrictions over the last three , months as the result of a shortage of coal, it is anticipated that the gross revenue would haye reached £16,000,000. The marked rise in gross earnings was brought out by comparison with the last pre-war year, ended March 31, 1939, when the gross revenue was £9,345, 387. The figure for the year just ended represented an increase of nearly 64 per cent, over that amount.” All sources of revenue had shown an increase. Both passenger and goods traffic had been heavy throughout the ?/ear. The revenue derived from those sources showing increases of £564,973 and £434,824, respectively. Miscellaneous and subsidiary services revenue showed an increase of £146,414. The expenditure for the year was £12,757,336, an increase of £1,454,923, or 12.87 per cent. This increase was largely due to the additional cost resulting from the handling of an increased volume of traffic, rises in material costs and higher wage costs, due to improved staff conditions. Traffic lost through the imposition of restrictions could have been carried with comparatively little addition to the expenditure figures, as a considerable proportion of railway costs were constant and the whole expenditure does not react to a reduction in services as quickly, or in the same ratio, as receipts. A factor of the expenditure which warranted special mention was the provision of £410,500 for deferred maintenance. It was felt that the best policy to adopt was to absorb out of wartime revenue an amount estimated to . meet maintenance expenditure which would have been incurred but for wartime conditions, rather than make a very favourable showing for the present, and load such costs on to the post-war period. As a result of this policy, the net revenue for the year was £2,567.970, a decrease of £258,610, compared with the year ended March 31,, and, allowing for an | increase in the average capital invested in open lines, the return of such capital was approximately 3.71 per cent., compared with 4.31 per cent, last year.