RAILWAY EARNINGS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 56, 22 March 1937, Page 7

RAILWAY EARNINGS

-PreSB Aasociatlon.)

Cost of 40-Hour Week Covered "VERY GOOD YEAR"

(By Telegraph-

AUCKLAND, Last Night. The fact that the railway earnings up to the present time had increased so greatly that the addition cost of the 40-hour week and the restoration oi' wages had been almost absorbed was announced by the Minister of Railways (Hon. D. G. Sullivan). The department had had a very good year, said the Minister. At the same time the abjective of the Government in introducing the 40-hour week had been achieved through the greater employment it had created. The railways alone were employing 2755 more men than they did 12 months ago and 3091 more men than when the present Government came into office. The department had been able not only to provide an improved service but also to mako a reasonable profit. The amount of £3,500,000 provided in th® estimates of requirements for railway improvements in the coming finan cial year was another indieation of the Government 's policy to make the railways serve to a greater extent than ever before the travel and general transport Tequirements of the people said the Minister. The general im.provement was shown in the fact that passenger journeys in the North Island ,for Pebruary this year increased by 58,326, or 15.89 per cent., eompared with last year. There was also an increase of 131,563 in the number of passengers carried by the railway motor services. That increase of 49.16 per cent. was partly accounted for by the taking over of the Wellington-Khan-dallah service. Tho total railway revenue in the North Island during Eebru- 1 cry increased by £64,946, or 18.6 per cen t.