OUR COSTLY RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 584, 12 August 1909, Page 4

OUR COSTLY RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

In discussing on Tuesday the report upon the Commissioner-managed railways of Now South Wales for the year 1908-9, we had not space to note two important points which still further emphasise the advantage of having the railways under twu-politiovl control It will be ronw»-

Ixirml that l,liu Now South Wider, (-.yalem allowed ii not profit of >bss,oYl),() < < ~ 0 for tho year, which nnaliled b'/nWfiWl to lie paid into lliu Oonijolididiul Ifnwl ftftor all (ixpoiiHon and 1,1 w itifeiut oil capital, and thin dotijiik) tho fact ilial# I.lm iipkocji and iiiaiiitonaiioc worn paid for out of revenue, and although concfiiwiotin v/e.m iwulo to the (iniploycon and public amount* ing to nearly £270,000 per ye,nr. Although tlui Hyiitoin tliua paid no hiifitl* Bomoly, 27 of tho linen failed to pay their way, the total lows upon thorn iuiiou)iti(i|; to J&U13,1)1)1. Tim aystciii, that in to oiiy, was worked on the principle that pro/if, must not be tho first, conNldoration of (Jni management—ample allowance in iimik, an tlwao loasoa ahow, for tlm ui!o of llin nyatom to develop l.lio country, litil, Ilia managnmnnt was no good that the Hydciii fulfilled its developmental function and yOt paid well. No doubt, if they are not (hopelessly discouraged by .now, tho friends of political control in thin country may say that tho Nov/ South Walwt railways pay bccauso the' up,cr» of them aro ground down by heavy charges—quite forgetting, by the way, -their own and 8m J. G. Ward's assertion that high rates mean lost business. This brings ua to the Bocond point.. Tho "train-mile" ia an "absolute" unit, independent of the totala of trains and miles, The final teat is always in tho earnings and expenses per train-mile. AVhat do ,wo find? That the now Zealand Government extracts more from the public per train-mile than tho New South Wales Comtaissionor; but that,, owing to tho wasteful management in Now Zealand, the "net" return per train-mile is less hero than in Now South Wales. Here are the figures in pence (the latest New Zealand figuroa are for 1907-8): Per N.Z. N.S.W. Train-milo. • 1907-8 1908-9 Earnings ... ... 93.75 80 Expsnaos. 60il8 47 Net return ... ... 27.57 33 Tho whole secret lies in the line which we have put in heavy, type. The New Zealand railways tako more from the public por train-mile, but.the high working expenses make the net return lower than in New South Wales.