OUR TRAMS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 47, 19 November 1920, Page 6

OUR TRAMS

e AND THEIR CAPITAL COST. In reviewing the position of the Wellington Municipal Tramways yesterday, the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) maintained that taking' all things_into consideration i!*l6 position was hardly so bad as had feu conveyed, though, ft was quite serious onougli. Ho pointed out that of the ,£667,521 invested in tho tramways, a large port of that amount had been contributed out of revenue, which should have been met out of capital cost. There wn» an amount of .£107,000, out of net revenue, which should, rightly speaking, have been a credit, instead of which it had been used to avoid raising another loan. The Mayor pointed out that it was interesting at the present stago to note how .the capital cost of the tramway system was madeup. The items concerned nre as follow:— .£ s. d. Loans 653,230 0 0 Hataitai Land Co.'s contribution to cost of Kilbirnio Tunnel 10.000 0 01 From Depreciation Fund ... US.KS II i From net rovenuo 107,507 - 11 Sinking Fund in repayment of loan s>-"'5 >-"' " ° ■Loan from District Fund ... 85,000 0 0 From Reserve Fund la « Total *587,521 9 0 Tho tramways havo not only had the advantage of the 4107,587 2s. lid. from revenue, but they have drained the District Fund to the tune of ~£25,000 and the Reserve Fund to tho amount °f j" l ;* 2 15s. Gd.. altogether a sum of .£1,.3,i)29 I*>. r,d., and with tho use of this money only a net credit of .£18,012 Ms. could be shown. Sinco these figures wore registered, tfifl tramway returns have gone from bad to worse, and Itho service is norr being ran nt ft loss. What to do is puzzling several of the. councillors, ttore revenue is needed, tut there, aro tho.ee who beliave that any further increase in fares will mean a .eduction, not an increase, in revenue. Tn the meantime, the tramwaymen are looking (or tho 9s. bonus or a readjustment of their agreement to make U fit in with the latest, bonus adSS orSered by tso Arbitration Court.