DOMINION RAILWAYS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2644, 28 October 1909, Page 5

DOMINION RAILWAYS.

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER

(Special to “Times.”! WELLINGTON, Oct. 27. The railway statement by the Minister of Railways was brought down in the House of Representatives to-day. As the report is for the year ended 31st March last, and the Hon. J. A. Millar only took office in January, his policy can only be reflected in it to a very moderate extent. The statement declares that the result of the year’s operations, when compared with those of the previous year, have been on the whole satisfactory, the net profit of working being £812,711 for 1909, as against £812,179 for 1908. The capital cost of open lines-"was £27,762,592, as against £24,365,657 last year. i The gross revenue for the year amounted to £2,929.526. It exceeded the estimate by £94,526 and the gross revenue for the previous year by £167,588. The passenger revenue shows an increase of £85,937, season tickets £12,743, coaching £10,165, goods and live stock £48,276, miscellaneous and rents £10,367. The receipts per train mile amounted to 94.00 d, as against 93,70 d for the previous year. The' net earnings gave a return of 3.13 per cent on the capital cost. The expenditure for the year amounted to £2,114,815,. an increase of £165,057 over the previous year, and absorbed 72.9 per cent of revenue, as against 70.059 per cent for the previous year. The cost of maintenance of lines, buildings arid structures has increased from £638,560 to £656,154, representing an average expenditure of. £257.3, against £258,31 per mile of railway of the previous year. The Minister states that additions and improvements to lines and structures costing £13,308, which might, fairly have been debited to capital, have been made during the year and charged to the working expenses. The sum of £398,097 was expended under the head of additions to open lines and charged to capital account. The amount of increased pay accruing to the railway staff as the result of the operation of the Classification Act of 1907 was £147,000; in addition, an amount was involved in paying marriage allowance under the regulation yvas £12,000 per annum. The number of persons receiving benefits from the Government railways superannuation fund at the end of the vear was 796, making an annual charge on the fund of £37,602 2s 4d. The accumulated fund now amounts to £157,151. The Minister estimates the revenue for the year ending 31st March 1910 at £3,050,000, and the expenditure at £2,143,500.