RAILWAYS

Hokitika Guardian, 6 December 1930, Page 6

RAILWAYS

JUGGLING WITH ACCOUNTS. MATTER OF EIGHT MILLIONS. (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 enoguh, 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 April 1, 1926 to March 31, 1929, a period covering four financial years:—

..A system existed during the four years between April 1, 1926 and March 31, 1929, by which the railwyas were relieved of the losses on certain nonpaying lines, £859,546 being taken tfrom 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 tlie whole period. In 1930 these subsidies were discontinued and in their place a sum of £8,i00,060 was written off the Railway Loan Account, with the appearance, if not with an actual assurance, that this arrangement would satisfy the needs of the railway 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 railways burdens. Th© net result of the change-over from one method of accounting to another was, indeed, to increase the deficiency of the Railway Department in 1930 by £356,2ii. ■' 1

One can scarcely think of a business rnan carrying on his affairs in this fashion! For a time, lie might flourish —if he had a few thousand taxpayers at his hack—-but ultimate disaster would be inevitable. Tn 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.

March. Revenue. Net-earn-31. iture. ings. *' j*i .. £ £ £ 1926 8,101,221 6,468,428 1,632,793 1927 7,989,433 6,490,880 1,498,553 1928 8,034,969 6,685,123 1,349,846 1929 8,249,038 6,849,383 1,399,655 1930 8,283,115 7,358,846 929,257