Higher Charges Maintain Railways' Revenue

Chronicle (Levin), 6 November 1948, Page 4

Higher Charges Maintain Railways' Revenue

The increased charges in some rail passenger fares and goods charges are evl'dent in statistical figures supplied by the Levin stationmaster, Mr. A. Hayward. : , These figures, taken on rail traffic from Levin, show a noticeable increase in the revenue derived from the passengers and the varibus classes . of freight, despite a marked decrease in the number of passengers' and the tonnage of . goods • which have gone through Levin during t'he ' seven months ending October 3f. The New Zealand Road Service passengers have also decreased in number. From April 1 to October 31, 1948, 25,221 passengers took • tickets to the value of £7135. In the same period last year, 28,856 passengers bought' tickets worth £6804. Forty.four season tickets, valued at £26, were sold as agaihst 42 tickets tq a value of £16 last year. Parcel's and luggage were checked from Levin to a value of £2841 during the period, while in the same time in 1947 parcels

and luggage cheCkmg cost passengers £2905. Only 980 people bought tickets for road services travel, as compared with 1217 in the period- in 1947. Th'e' tickets were vaiued at £470 as against £506. In the goods section, 2157 tons were consigned from Levin, compared with £2398 in last yqar's period. The revenue from these cOnsignments was £6722 as against £5999. Miseellaneous revenue was i £214 compared with £132. | Stock transportation was much ! the same during the period as last ! year. Details are as iollows with | figures for the 1947 period given !in parentheses: — Cattle: 11,586 (11,509); sheep: 30,766 (32,525). . In regard to Christmas booklings, Mr. Hayward told a. representative of "The Chronicle" that the bookings were beginning to come in now. "I think, however, that they will b.e more or less on a restricted basis when compared with previous seasons on account of the continuation of the paralysis epidemic," he added.