WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1918, Page 8

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

RAILWAY RETURNS. THE YEARS OPERATIONS. ( Special Correspondent). Wellington, May 10. Yesterday the Hon. VV. H. Hemes communicated to the newspapers the return obtained from the railways during the financial year ended on March 31st last. The figures were summarised in the statement the Minister of Finance submitted to the House of Reps, during the short session,, but of course Sir Joseph Ward oil'ered no comment upon their significance. Briefly they show that the revenue for the year was £113,110 less than that for the preceding year and the expenditure £116,042 more. But the Minister explains that 1910-17 was an extraordinarily prosperous year, and that in the circumstances a decline of £220,152 in the net revenue is no more than might have been expected. Ho regards the results, indeed, as entirely satisfactory and congratulates the country upon having obtained a return of £4 12s per cent upon the money invested in the linos,,

THE GENERAL MANAGER. ' The surprise packet in the Minister's statement is the announcement that the engagement of tlw General Manager, Mr Hiley, which in the ordinary course would have expired on August 8, has been extended to the end of the current finanoial year, March 31st, 1919, "in order to avoid a break in the management iu the absence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and in Drder not to have a change of management during a session of Parliament." This would seem to imply that the subject was not even discussed before Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward loft for London and that it will he undesirable, from the ministerial point of view, to have it considered while 'Parliament is in session, The position is not regarded as altogether satisfactory by business men, and is giving rise to many caustic comments among the travelling public. THE COAL SHORTAGE. The Hon. A. M. Myers, the. Minister of Munitions and Supplies, who has been bearing most of the anxieties in connection with the coal shortage during the last four or five months, in speaking to the Press representatives yesterday uttered a word of warning to householders against hoarding supplies of fuel. The Minister is determined to secure a fair distribution of coal, both for domestic find for manufacturing purposes, and towards this end he has enlisted the assistance of the retailers, who are now entrusted with the duty of seeing their customers are not laying up supplies in excess of their reasonable requirements. Mr Myers believes no one need suffer any real inconvenience provided everyone "plays the game/' and if any householder fails in his duty in this respect prompt and drastic measures will he taken to protect the interest of the community. WASTEFUL EXPENDITURE. Lieutenant'-Colonel T. W., Mac Donald, of the General Staff, Wellington Military District, was again before the Defence Expenditure Commission yesterday and in the course of his evidence summarised some of the expenditure he considered wholly unjustified and wasteful. Among the items lie mentioned were £1,000,000 for excessive training In New Zealand; £211,270 for transport of men on leave made necessary by centralisation; £IOO,OOO for passages of unfit men sent from New Zealand; £218,000 for maintenance of centralisation at Trentham and Featherston and £50,000 for wastage on training of officers. The total of the little bill is rather more than £3,500,000, and though most of the Colonel's allegations were traversed by Colonel Gibbon's statement before the Commission the other day, there are hundreds of practical men, both soldiers and civilians, who still juaav of them unrafutcd,