WANTED: £90,000

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 342, 1 May 1928, Page 13

WANTED: £90,000

trams work without RESERVES

REf IEWALS AND INSURANCES

VVith its 1924 reserve of £51,000 j out. the Auckland tram- ’ W »vs undertaking requires £90,000 Tor renewals. Again on a credit I £1,750 it carries all its own accident risk up to £3,000 in any on e case. These were the two main issues of discussion when the Transport Commission continued its sitting yesterday afternoon and to-day.

The evidence-in-chief of Mr. A. U. , ford, tramways manager, occupied all j efterday afternoon and this morning. ; yr. Ford said that before March, I 1924, the whole of the expenditure on j reconstruction of tracks was met by | the revenue account. After that date the state of tramway finances, due to bus competition, necessitated payment being made in some other way, and 33 1-3 per cent, was then charged to capital account. Witness amplified this by stating that part was charged to capital account on the ground that The expenditure was not only on repairs, but also in putting down a better class of 1 The Chairman: That seems to be a much better explanation. Mr. V. R. Meredith, counsel for suburban bodies, indicated that the whole business would be subject to criticism. Mr. Ford mentioned later that the reason why centre- poles were not replaced in the city streets was that the poles were carrying feeder mains, and these had to be placed underground. This would cost about £ 30,000. There are 358 of such poles. Continuing, witness detailed the various alterations in the service since he took over the management in 1922, including new running arrangements, proper organisation of rosters, time clocks, better destination signs, revision of staff and inspectors, improvement of relationship between staff •ind management, increases in the number of trams, tram-line extensions, reductions in tram stops, changes in lures, and a considerable amount of other detail. buses alone proposal An interesting table was presented showing that it' the tramways were scrapped, and passengers were carried by buses, the additional revenue required would be £485,375. This, it was held, could not be raised from passengers, and would mean a special rate of 4s 6d in the £ on all rateable city property. During the course of this morning's hearing file after file of figures and graphs were placed in the hands of the commission, the lot running into hundreds of pages, and the numbers of figures into huge totals. At one stage Mr. Ford remarked to Mr. V. R. Meredith, counsel for several outside bodies, that if his side had kept records like these they would not have wanted a commissio_n. NO RESERVES Some discussion took place on the position in Auckland with regard to replacements and permanent way charges. It was shown that for years these have been met as they occurred out of revenue.

The chairman expressed the opinion that there should be an annual appropriation to form a fund for these works. As it was, there might be practically no expenditure in one year allowing the undertaking to show a profit, which immediately resulted in a demand follower fares and higher wages. The next year the whole profit and more might be wiped out with a heavy expenditure.

Mr. Ford said a reserve system would probably be adopted sooner or later, but the position had been such that they had to get on with the work aa best they could. Insurance also claimed some attention, Mr. Ford stating that a calamity cover was held for anything up to £21,000, the department having to bear the first £3,000. An annual appropriation was made against accident, the amount being about £3,000, and with the exception of one year the accident fund had paid its way, and was at present £1,750 in credit. Fire insurance was put through the companies at a very substantial reduction on usual charges. The chairman pointed out that there was a risk of heavy maintenance, and a series of accidents in one year, which raight put the undertaking in a serious position. Mr. Ford said the maintenance charges, as the undertaking was brought up to standard, would not !p ave a great deal of unexpected liability. The chairman pointed out that maintenance renewals had varied from £IB,OOO to £BB,OOO in a few year*. The repairs had more or less been left during the time of competition, and the burden would come home to roost sooner or later. Mr. A. H. Johnstone said the withad previously shown that -90,000 was required for renewals and improvements during the next few years. Mr. H. M. Rogerson: That will renuire loan money. Mr. Ford: No. it won't. We have never used loan money for this work. , Mr. Rogerson: Well, all the reserves •V*ve gone. How are you going- to get uie' money ? Mr. Ford said either revenue had to Provide it or the work must remain Undone. Now that competition had Ki n remove d, the system should be R ble to do the work. Given a fair ' lance, the system had a great capatlty f° r earning and showing a profit. (Proceeding.)