D—2

1946 NEW ZEALAND

RAILWAYS STATEMENT (BY THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, HON. R. SEMPLE)

Mr. Speaker,— This is the sixth Kailways Statement it has been my pleasure to present, but it is the first Statement I have been able to present in time of peace. During the war years the railways performed splendid work under great difficulties, and although these difficulties have not by any means disappeared, the railways are making as valuable a contribution to post-war re-establishment as they did to the war effort, and I am confident that they will continue to do so. FINANCIAL The financial results were a good deal better than was anticipated. The gross revenue for the year was £15,444,847, which establishes a new record for railway gross revenue. The previous record figure was established in the year 1943-44, and this year's total exceeded that record by £119,541. The increase over last year's figure was £985,097, or 6-81 per cent. Increased revenue was received from both passenger traffic (both rail and road) and from goods traffic. On the passenger side, although there was a decrease in ordinary rail passenger journeys due to the closing of military establishments and the easing of petrol restrictions, this decrease was in short-distance traffic, and was more than counterbalanced by an increase in receipts from journeys on furlough passes and from long-distance civilian traffic. For the year the receipts from military passenger traffic constituted 34-59 per cent, of the total rail passenger revenue.