RAILWAY REVENUE UP

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1940, Page 6

RAILWAY REVENUE UP

The latest return of railway revenue — for the four weeks ending August 17 — reveals a profit of £74,564 compared with a working loss of £41,562 in the corresponding period last year. Each of the first five months of the current year has shown a substantial increase in revenue, and as this period includes three months in which traffic is usually at its lowest there should be a considerable improvment in earnings over the whole year. For the 20 wetks from April 1 to August 17 the profit this year was £524,496, compared with a profit of £177,382 last year, an increase of £347,114. The gross revenue was £4,111,854, an increase of £506,306. Expenditure was £3,587,359, an increase of £159,193 over that in the corresponding period last year. The improvement in railway revenue is doubtless one of the outcomes of the petrol restrictions and the consequential limitation of road services. Another benefit to railway earnings has been the movement of troops, the transport of military stores and equipment and of large quantities of building material for the establishment of training camps.

These temporary advantages must be welcome to the railway authorities and the profits they have brought should enable earnings to meet more of the interest bill on capital. As the last date of accounting this amounted to £2,575,000, and ur.less revenue increases at a higher rate than has been disclosed in the returns for the past 20 weeks the railways will still be unable to meet the full charges for interest. When petrol restrictions are lifted or modified considerably it will be interesting to see whether road services will again make heavy inroads upon railway earnings. Further readjustments will follow also when the present extensive services foi the military forces are no longer required. The least satisfactory figure of the returns is the continuous increase in expenditure. If this cannot' be kept within bounds the position of the railways will be far from satisfactory when a return to normal conditions has become possible..