JUGGLING WITH ACCOUNTS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 134, 4 December 1930, Page 8

JUGGLING WITH ACCOUNTS

THE EAILWAYS

MATTER OF EIGHT MILLIONS

(By the Associated Chambers of Commerce.) It is difficult for the ordinary business man to follow at all closely the working methods of the Dominion's Railway Department, which, as is obvious enough, differ widely from the handling of his own business. It is open to him, however, to make the best he can of the Department's accumulated figures. Here is a brief outline of the revenue and expenditure of the Department from Ist April, 1920, to 31st March, 1029, a period covering four financial years:— 3ist. Not Starch. Revenue. Expenditure. Earnings. 102fi .. 8,101,221 6,468,428 1,632,793 1 102T .. 7,1)89,433 6,490,880 1,498,553 192S .. 5,034,0G9 6,635,123 1,349,846 IS2II .. 8,249,038 6,849,383 1,399,655 1930 .. 8,283,115 7,358,846 929,257 A system existed during the four years between Ist April, 1926, and 31st March, 1929, by which the railways were relieved of the losses on certain non-paying lines, £359,546 being taken from the Consolidated Fund in the first year; £445,220 in the second; £489,568 in the third; and £498,936 in the fourth, making a total of £1,793.264 for the whole period. In 1930 these subsidies were discontinued and in their place a sum of £8,100,000 was written off the Railway Loan Account, with the appearance, if not with an actual assurance, that this arrange-1 ment would satisfy the needs of the railways equally well. This may have been the more convenient manner of dealing with the situation, but as a matter of fact it neither lessened the losses upon the unpaying lines nor reduced the railway's burdens. The net result of the change-over form one method of accounting to another was, indeed, to increase the deficiency of the Railway Department in 1930 by £356,241. One can scarcely think of a business man carrying on his affairs in this fashion. For a time he might flourish—if he had a few thousand taxpayers at his back —but ultimate disaster would be inevitable. In other words, politics and business do not make a well, assorted team. Nothing but a change from a political directorate to a business directorate, unhampered by Parliamentarians of any degree, would provide a sufficient remedy for the present deplorable state of affairs.