The Globe. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 629, 24 June 1876, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1876.

The railway accounts for the year ending 31st March, which were published in the Gazette a few days ago, afford, we think, fair grounds for congratulation. There is perhaps no department of Government service which it has, whether deservedly or not is at present immaterial, been so much the fashion to run down, and therefore the result of the year’s transactions, showing as it does a large excess of earnings over the expenditure, with a consequent reduction of the per-centage of working expenses, is exceedingly satisfactory. During the last session of the Council, the Government introduced a Bill by which they proposed to tak ) power to increase the rates of carriage. At first it was proposed, not only to raise those on goods, but also the passenger fares ; but this latter provision, though still remaining in the schedule of the Bill, has very wisely not been brought into operation. The fact was that the then existing rates of carriage for goods had been fixed without due consideration of the relation the working expenses bore to the revenue received from this source. That this was so, is abundantly proved by the figures published, referring to the comparative earnings, expenditure, and per-centage of working expenses in the years 1875 and 1876, to which wo shall refer more particularly. At the time of the proposed increase many members of the Council were most emphatic in their prognostications of a decrease in the trade, and consequent falling off of the revenue. Tj impose a higher rate, they argued, was to cripple the development of the resources of the country, which it was the duty of the Government to foster as far as possible. But what has been the result ? Allowing for the increased business

done by the railway owing to extensions iu various directions, the very opposite has taken place. The excess of earnings over expenditure for 1876, as compared with that of the preceding year, shows a remarkable increase. It is plain, therefore, that the Government exercised a wise discretion in substituting, for the rates existing in 1875, a higher tariff, because there can be no doubt that the former did not allow of a fair return being made to the revenue for the work done. It must also be borne in mind that, though the extensions naturally have brought an increase of traffic, there has also been necessarily a considerable addition to the expenditure, in rolling stock, stations, andidepartmental items. Therefore, when we find that the returns exhibit, not alone a large surplus over the cost of working, but that also there is a marked decrease in the ratio of expenses, it cannot but be regarded as very creditable to the department. The Provincial Auditor, in the published return, has shown the earnings in full, but, and we think very properly, does not consider it necessary to give the detailed statement of the work done at each station. To have done this would have rendered the statement very cumbersome, and the public, in the summary published in the Gazette, have all the information before them necessary to arrive at a knowledge of the way in which the department has done its work. Prom this it appears that there has been an excess of receipts over expenditure for the year, of £63,724 12s Bd, which, our readers will agreee with us, is a very satisfactory state of things. But the comparative statement of earnings and expenditure, and per-centage of working expenses, for this and the preceding year, contrast even more favourably. The earnings of the railway for 1875 amounted to £126,017 6s *7d, and the expenditure to £106,375 19s Bd, the excess of the former over the latter being £19,611 6s lid, whilst the working expenses were 81.11 per cent. For the present year the figures are, earnings £185,806 17s sd, expenditure £121,513 8s lOd; the excess of earnings over expenditure being £61,293 8s 7d, with a percentage of working expenses of only 67.01 per cent. That is, we have £61,293 8s 7d profit earnings in 1876 against £19,611 6s lid in 1875, with a reduction of some 20 per cent in the working expenses. These results, therefore, completely contradict the predictions of those who held that the increase of rates would have a prejudicial effect upon the revenue, and the Government are to be commended for having taken a step which has resulted iu so large and satisfactory a return.