DECLINING TRAFFIC

Hokitika Guardian, 2 October 1930, Page 5

DECLINING TRAFFIC

OTIRA TUNNEL STATISTICS.

Owing to the seasonal demand for coal, traffic on the Midland railway line is considerably heavier in winter than in summer, and the same factors affecting each monthly total recur regularly, year by year. For the first seven years of its operation, the traffic showed an uninterrupted increase, but now for the first time the monthly totals are lower than -they were in 1920, revealing the effects of the slump. Thus, in August, the volume of goods brought eastward through the . tunnel was 60.019 tons, as compared with 61,345 tons in the corresponding , month of last year. The September total shows a greater falling-off; it dropped from 52,860 tons in 1929 to 44,263 tons in 1930. . In the following table, totals for complete weeks in the months under review are compared hvith those for 1929, a decrease being * shown in all except one:—

August— 1929 1930 •■■ '... ] •:: Tons. Tons. First week 4,861 13,937 5,381 12,835 Second week 15.438 : 14.538 Third week 13,486 14,171 Fourth week 13,623 • ■'* 18,094 Totals ...... 61,345 60,019 September— ’’ First week 12,943 9,020 Second week 12,014 10,888 i Third week 13.604 10,720 | Fourth week 12,852 10,789 - (■ • S - ( 1,445 . 2,846 | Totals ..... . 52,860 ’ 44,263 J