OUR RAILWAYS: THE STATEMENT FOR 1903.

Waikato Argus, Volume XV, Issue 6035, 4 August 1903, Page 2

OUR RAILWAYS: THE STATEMENT FOR 1903.

TO THE EDITOK. Slß,—The Railways Statement for 1903 is Just to hand, and with your permission I propose to deal briefly with it. Of cour:e, we have the annual boast, and are told that ' the year's operations of our railways have again been most satisfactory.' Well, sir. they may be ' satisfactory ' to the Department, hut if they are to the public then I say the public likes to be deceived and plundered. To this part of the colony, at any rate, they are most unsatisfactory, for it will be seen that we contribute the revenue which is lost in Canterbury and Otago. The tables attached inform us that during the year we opened 56 miles of new railways at a cost of £911,013, or, say, £16,266 per mile, of country extensions, but I suppose we shall be assured that this is yood value. They also inform us that during the year they carried 219,254 more ordinary passengers, sold 17,653 more season tickets, carried ?01,217 more tons, 1,122,518 more head of live Stock, 58,707 more parcels. But for all this increased trade what did the colony get ? The tables themselves say that the railways earned a less rate of interest last year than they did the year before by 2s 6 I per cent. But then, according to their account, notwithstanding this decrease in the rate of interest, they earned an increased ' net profit ' of £8274. Wonderful result ! Appirently any fit tement is good enough for the New Zealand public. As a matter of fact, we lost on our railways last year another £601,141, and it has only be made co appear that we earned £3 6i Id per cent, by omitting the charge interest ou unopened lines, by chargiog to ' additions to open lines ' — that is, to capital instead of revenue, £423,167, und tieatine as revenue earned the an.ount of £54,633 for ' services rendered to other dv-panmeots.' The more we investigate the railway acoouuts the more complete and despicable the failure our administrators will be found to be. Many times have I pointed out that the more closely the present system is applied, the more railways are extended, the more capital there is invested in them, the more work they have to do, the greater is the financial loss, the more disastrous the social results. Victoria is a striking illustration of the truth of this statement. She has not yet recovered, nor will she for many a long year recover, from the injury inflicted on her by Mr Speight's Administration. Unfortunately we have an example nearer home. Sir Joseph Wird, more than any of his predecessors, has closely followed on Mr Speight's lines, and the same evil results are rapidly showing themselves, as the following tables will prove. These tables refer to ' open' lines ooly, and to the last three years :

< < ' et*J a 'A'ti *. S fl H riS o «» °3* w A d id f* ° 2 >» a 3 2 t, 9 BS ■S p.3*b ■.B 3 aS *■ e a Auckland section, 341 miles ; cost £2,677,615. £££ s d £ 1901 11 39,823 1,735 2 7 9 6,353 1902 uil 101,312 17,171 2 18 0 11,382 1903 nil 81,539 12,167 3 5 4 8,869 Wellington, Tarauaki, and Hawke's Bay soction, 466 milos; cost, £4,649,316. 1901 nil 112,210 10,508 3 2 9 50,176 1902 uil 211,235 3,991 3 16 81,024 1903 uil 392,548 17,071 3 3 8 64,844 Huruuui-Bluff section, 1213 miles; cost, £9,986,178. 1901 13 199,896 4,267 31G 9 49,322 1902 12 527,024 ti 1,705 3 8 10 76,432 1903 15 221,549 f 19,461 3 3 8 79,000 'ln addition to the amounts stated in this column there was the amount spent on rolling stock. The totals for the three years were—Permanent way, £442.253, and in rolling stock £1,083,935. •("Decrease.

I ask, sir, if these statements do not completely prove the truth of my statement made above ? Let me impress upon your readets that these are not my statements—they are the figures and statements of the Department. Tho real position is very far worse, and the loss made on the Hurunui-Bluff, I hare little doubt, is at least four times as great as that shown in the Railways Statement. That wonderful document shows that the Auckland section during the last three years earnod an increased net net revenue of £31,073, while on the Hurunui-Bluff section, which has nearly four times the mileage and costs more than three and a half times aB much, the net revenue decreased—yes, decreased—£26,9s9, and this notwithstanding the fact that during these three years the revenue of the Hurunui-Bluff was bolstered up by certainly not less than £687,000 from ' additions to open lines,' while from that source Auckland was helped to the extent of ouly £91,600. If the Hurunui-Bluff had to etand on its own merits it would present a dismal picture indeed. Could there be a more complete proof of the utter breakdown of the preseut system and the failure of our administrators?—l am, etc.,

Samuel Vaile. Auckland, July 30, 1903.