POLITICAL INFLUENCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 3 August 1929, Page 6

POLITICAL INFLUENCE

DETRIMENTAL TO RAILWAYS

.By Telegraph—Special to "The Mail")

CHRISTCHURCH, 2nd August. “To me tlie most interesting feature of the Budget in regard to railways is the proposal—which is perhaps over-due—-to write down tho capital liability of the railways in respect of non-paving branch lines" said Professor A. 11. Tocker. of Canterbury College. “The fact that capital needs to be written down is evidence of the uneconomic expenditure in the past and should be taken as a warning against incurring similar expend i‘mix? in future; but the real capital value of any business project can be estimated onlv by the capitalisation of an average of its net earning capacity. Under the present conditions it is very difficult to say what the earning capacity of the rai]wav« may be The last railway slatement said that they were overstaffed and the figures, particularly for the numbers engaged in the maintenance of rolling slock, support this conclusion.. Tl is generally believed that overstaffing in the railway and uneconomical administration is due to political influence, and if. seems highly desirable that this political influence should oe removed as far as possible and the rail wavs run on business lines in order (fiat flm greatest economy of operation may be effected and their, earning capacity—and their capital value—estimated on a sound basis.”