NEW SOUTH WALES RAILWAYS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2340, 5 November 1908, Page 7

NEW SOUTH WALES RAILWAYS.

NON-POLITICAL CONTROL.

TWENTY YEARS OF HISTORY MAKING.

In view'of the statistics which are being quoted by ill-informed persons to show the wonderful results of State control of the New Zealand railways, an extract from a “Sydney Morning Herald” of recent date will bo read with interest. It is worth noticing that while the New Zealand railways lose from £ 10C),000 to £400,000 ia. year, and while the “profits on working” have gradually sunk to 3.33 per cent-., the- profits of the New South Wales system have grown steadily from 2 7-8 to 4 7-8 per cent. Here is the extract from the “Herald” :

Yesterday was the -anniversary of the introduction of the non-political system of controlling the railway's and tramways of New South Wales, twenty years ago. On October 22, 1888, the Act under which Mr E. G. M. Eddy was made Chief Commissioner, and Messrs. Oliver and Foli-an Commissioners, came into operation, and the wisdom of the change is amply demonstrated in the condition to-day of the greatest- asset- the State possesses.

The two decades have been marked by a striking development in railway matters, and the opening up of the country has gone on apace with a liberal administration, unhampered by political interference. Business has grown almost phenomenally, and •reductions of fares and freight have followed as a matter of policy whenever circumstance permitted. Mr Eddy’s term of office was responsible for many improvements on the okl system, and after his death, Mr. Oliver, as Chief Commissioner, with Mr. Ivirkcaldie and Mr. Felian as his colleagues, continued the progressive policy 7, while Mr. Johnston, the present Chief Commissioner, has aimed, during the short time he has been in the State, to give New South Wales the best railway service it has over enjoyed. The railway returns form a convenient index to the progress of a country, and the figures associated with twenty years of railway history making in New South Wales aro almost amazing. In 1888 the capital cost of the lines was £27,700,000 while at the end of the financial year ended June 30 last the railways represented a capital of £45,600,00.0. The mileage of rails had -increased during the -twenty years from 2114 to 3472, and the earnings grew from £2,295,000 to £5,000,000. The return on capital invested shows a substantial increase from 2 7-8 per cent, to 4 7-8 per cent., and while the railways were worked at a loss in 1838, last financial year they returned a surplus profit of £579,000. The- percentage of working expenses also showed a gratifying decline.

The foregoing figures do not, however, give a correct indication of the increase of business, owing to the substantial reductions that have been made in fares ‘ and freights from time to time during the twenty years. The number of passenger journeys in 1888 was 15,000,000, as compared with 47,000,000 in 1907-8. The goods traffic increased from 3,330,000 tons to 9,720,000 tons, while the live stock business showed -an abnormal growth, increasing from 68,000 tons to 455,000 tons. Th 9 train mileage also more than doubled during the period, increasing from 6,666,000 miles in 1888 to 14,250,000 miles last year. So far as tlio tramways are concerned they have grown from comparatively small dimensions in 188 S, when el-sotrical traction was practically unknown in the State. Their capital cost lias increased from £877,000 to £3,730,000, and the earnings from £236,000 and £1,011,000, while the profits have grown from 2 per cent, to nearly 5i per cent. No record of passengers carried was kept in 1888, but the magnitude of the system in relation to the domestic life of the city to-day may be gauged l from the fact that last year the passengers numbered 172,000,000.