The Wanganui Herald (Pulished Daily.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1919. RAILWAY REVENUE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15979, 22 November 1919, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald (Pulished Daily.) SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1919. RAILWAY REVENUE.

Whkk Mr Massey was speaking at Papakura the other night, dealing with railway matters he is reported to have said: "The railways belong Ix> the people of the country, and it is the duty of the Department and of the Minister to meet the requirements of the people. We are going to do it. Our aim is to cater for the convenience of the people and not to make the railways earn high rates of interest. If the railways earn 4 per cent. I will be quite satisfied." How interesting! It i« quite refreshing to be told that the railways belong to the people'. One would have judged, from the experience o£ the la«t few years that they were being run for the convenience of the Department at the expense of the people. Take the fares, for instance. In addition to the burden of war taxation, the faxes and some classes of railway freight charges were increased, with a view to counteracting the effect of- anticipated deficiencies in revenue, so it was said. The increase in fares was approximately Id in every Is, and excursion fares were ultimately abandoned. If the increase was as stated, to meet anticipated deficiencies, those who were responsible for the estimates made a bad. guess. The actual position was that for the financial year 1917-8 Zealand railways paid. AGO per cent, on their capital, while for the year 1918-19 the percentage of profit to capital was 4.66. In both these years the perocentage of profit was, in Now Zealand, the largest of any of the Australasian States. One would have imagined that, seeing the railways belong to the people, at least the Premier says they do. the Department would have contented itself with making 1 a smaller rate of profit and allowing the people the advantage of cheap travelling. What revenue for war purposes the Government might have lost by allowing the fares to remain at their pre-war rate could have been easily made np, more than compensated for in fact, by a very slight increase in the taxation upon some of those people, large farmers and others, who made largo profits through the war. The railways are the people's only means of transportation, and it seems hardly fair that they should be derived of cheap travelling merely to ensure an increase in railway revenue, for that is what it appears to be. It is no doubt very nice for a member of the Government to be able to announce on the eve of an election that the railway revenue has reached the record figure of 4.65 per cent, of profit on capital, but it would require an elastic imagination to fit in increased fares and record profits with running the railways for the convenience of the people. But perhaps the convenience “stunt” is starting from now on till the end of the year only.