Railway’s Save £11,000 in Fuel

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 454, 8 September 1928, Page 15

Railway’s Save £II,OOO in Fuel

REVENUE RISES NEW MANAGER’S REPORT A n increase in railway passengers and revenue, and a substantial saving in the railways fuel bill is recorded by the General Manager of Railways, Mr. H. H. Sterling, who is now in Auckland, and who outlines the position in the New Zealand Railways Magazine. During tire Tour-weekly periods ending August IS the revenue was greater by £29,000 than during the corresponding period of last year. Spring vacation excursions are credited with much of this added success. The number of passengers increased largely and freight produced revenue £21,000 more than last year. Since the commencement of the current financial year a saving of £II,OOO lias been effected in the railway fuel bill for the Dominion, mainly as a result of using a larger proportion of native soft coal on locomotives. “This is an important feature in the measures adopted to help in reducing operating costs,” he says, “and I would ask the locomotive running staff to give the cost factor due consideration when working with this class of fuel When it is realised how important is the economy thus effected, the staff concerned will, I feel sure, have an increasingly friendly feeling toward the soft coals of New Zealand." Mr. Sterling believes the railways will share in the general prosperity which is being manifest universally. “I feel justified in taking a hopeful outlook regarding the future,” he says. The Increase In the flocks of sheep) the remarkable expansion in the quantity of fertilisers distributed to farmers, the tendency toward stabilisation of prices for practically all our primary products at a reasonable level, and the general improved financial position of the Dominion, promise for the coming season a record in the volume and the value of production. ‘‘There is every reason to believe that the railways will share largely in this, and be called upon to handle very hervy traffic under somewhat difficult conditions, inasmuch as many of our improved transport facilities now being provided wi.i not be completed and available for use for some time.”