THE RAILWAY YEAR

Hokitika Guardian, 13 August 1932, Page 6

THE RAILWAY YEAR

NET, REVENUE GAIN.

STATEMENT BY MR STERLING

Fgure3 made, public by Mr i T . 11. Sterling, chairmaq, of the Government Railwaysißoardy indicate that notwithstanding a decline in revenue t?io radways in the past! financial year mr. do a net revenue, gain by reason of the

economies effected in expenditure;

• Mr Sterling said ( th°- past .year had been an exceedingly trying one and difficult in itself by reason of the complications) inevitably associated with the continuation and intensification of the depression. In addition, there had been of course, a 'tremendous volume of work inseparable from such-radical change of , tile control of the business.ing the Department’s- working had with the- constitution, of the Board, Practicaly every major question affecting the Department’s working ha u . been, or in the near future would lie, brought under review by the Board, and tliis had placed a, heavy, burden on the organisation, having regard to tlie fact that the,routine requirements of the business called for the greatest possible vigilance in order tp ( secure the, ,best, results. That those results, hqd been secured seemed to be amply justified by the’figures fof the . last ,y,ear’s; operations.

Without going into details, Mr Sterling.said he. wasi pleased to be able to indicate that,, notwithstanding a drop 4n. revenue',for,the ;year. of £1,070,0(10, the, Department had -actually-been able • fco achieve, ap, increase., in net revenue. ■ That, of.course,, was the. result of the .efforts which had been made to reduce expenditure, -the figures for the year, showing,., in .comparison with those of the previous year-that expenditure had ;been by approximately' £1,200,000. Compared with 1930, expenditure showed a decrease of £1,687,000. '“This result,!’ Mr Sterling continued “has been - attained without reducing the service below what would be regarded as a- reasonable \ standard from the customer’s Standpoint. .* The Board realises, of course, that there is a point below which expenditure cannot be reduced without a dispro- , portionate sacrifice of the ‘standard of the service. 'This- requires a’ very 'nice balancing of the factors 't involved' 'in the consideration- of- this question. The Board is. steadily pursuing the ' policy of economy, but it. will be real* iged, in face of what has, already been .'Retrieved ip the reduction of expendi-. 'tore,-that further reductions become increasingly difficult... Especially in such, institution as the railways, a reached where service must be regarded gs at a minimum, so that further reductions in expenditure are ,not. really possible as a business proposition. For instance, between main centres express train services have tp m be and, while revenue may drop, ‘to, half, the expenditure is practically, stationary 'as .Regards that' service. So in . relation to other,, phases of. the. Department’s ac- 1 tiviti'esp' such as goods service/, re- 1 fresh nient , rooms, .etc. The, Departmefit has at all times to be in a position to meet, the fluctuations that, gen-.

erally ! sjieaHing?,-, determine, thp strength of the, organisation that .has, to .be maintained in Order to give ( a ; that will be free from complaint.” . MrvSterUflg said it wag. impossible , to foretell \yitli any degree of qertijinty what lay immediately,ahead.'.on the matter of trade : revival i; but ■vvithout wishing to .appear unduly pessimistic, he thought it would.not be wise to count on .any very substantial improvement .during the.... current year. Indeed, said the chairman, the figures of the Department’s business for the 'first tw'o months of the present. financial year showed that revenue was still dropping, but notwithstanding the increasing difficult of obtaining reductions in expenditure, it was'satisfactory to note that expenditure had .been reduced to an even greater extent, so • that for the first, two months , there .had been an improvement in the net 'revenue, llrue the sum was dot gieat, relatively speaking, being £2,000, but in the circumstances it was gratifying to know that the- Board hud been able to how a credit balance small 1 hough it might be. The public, Mr Sterling added, could be given’ a ftjll assurance that the Board-’ during the current year would be unreniitting in its endeavour (to-rup' the affairs of the Department on sound business lines, and to realise what is -considered ..to be,, its true. ob-. jective tq provide, the . community with the'service it needed at, the lowest possible cost. . . • mmmmmmmmmms Mmrmaamm