RAILWAY BUSINESS
There are two ways of looking at the figures of railway revenue published to-day. For the first eight months of the current financial year operating revenue increased by £201,258; but operating expenditure also increased and by a greater amount, so that the net revenue was less to the end of December last than for the corresponding period of 1933. It would be easy to draw false conclusions from this comparison. So far as statistics of this class are an index to railway prosperity, the comparison is unfair, since expenditure undertaken to induce new business must necessarily precede the new business; the Railways Board presumably budgets for its whole year, not for any section of the year. Passenger business over the Christmas season was exceptionally heavy, and it may be expected that the figures for the next four-weekly period will go some way toward bridging the gap between the increase in costs and the increase iii returns. Meantime the returns for eight months show that receipts are ahead of those for the previous year, and also well ahead of operating expenditure. The main value of the information disclosed is, however, apart from the railways. It is a reflex of the state of trade in the Dominion, and as such distinctly cheering. The trains have carried more passengers—by a third of a million—more live stock, and more. goods; which means that more people are moving about, more business is being done, and money is flowing more freely. There are many other indications of this economic improvement,.but every fresh one is welcome.
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Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 97, 18 January 1935, Page 8
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261RAILWAY BUSINESS Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 97, 18 January 1935, Page 8
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