The Daily Times. The oldest Manawatu journal: Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, NOV. 28, 1883. HOW THE RAILWAYS PAY(?)

Manawatu Times, Volume IX, Issue 1113, 28 November 1883, Page 2

The Daily Times. The oldest Manawatu journal: Established 1875. WEDNESDAY, NOV. 28, 1883. HOW THE RAILWAYS PAY(?)

During last session Mr W. White, .th.e.Sydenbam member, moved for a return 'showing the loss the colony has sustained for the financial y9ar ending March 81st last upon account of each railway, sectionjjof raiWay, and branch lines throughout the colony, as indicated by the difference between the interest upon tbe, cost of each, line as above (cal<* culated at 5 per cent.) and the annual interest derived therefrom after paying working expenses. The re« turn has been prepared and issued from the Government Printing Office, and is now before us. It tells a lamentable tale of the break-down of the Public Works policy regarding railways, and shows that so far from the predictions indulged m at the Vogelian period of finance of the railways being a source of revenue proving correct, the opposite is the case, the railways being a fearful drag on the colonial finances. We are unable to find room for the whole of the porfciculars contained m the return mentioned, but may state that the interest at 5 per cent, on the cost of construction amounts to £523,949, while the revenue over working expenses amounts to only £365,862. On six of the branch lines there . was not even sufficient revenue to pay working expenses, the loss on the working ranging from £2795 on the Duntroon branch to dglß4 pn the Ngapara branch. The total loss on tbe working of the non-paying lines is. £5336. The only two ■ sections of railway which paid interest at 5 per cent, and had a balance ,to carry forward to ordinary revenue Were the Christchurch section—f r»m Waikari to Temuka— which shows a profit of £29,293 over | work ing ' expenses ; and the Dunedin , sedtion^r-frpm Palinerstoß South to Clinton— rwhiph returned a profit of £15,1*05 after paying interest at 5 per .pen*. The whole of the other seotion* Bhbwed ft ltjsg. In prder to make th^s^ftte-^M^airslts dear as poasj&e we may put it m this way. After deducting the profit made by each line over working expenses I from the interes payable on the cost

of the railway, the return shows the following as the actual loss for the year ending March 31, 1883 : — Kawakawa £709 Whangarei 8,287 Auckland 28,340 Napier 6,411 Wellington 25,253 Wanganui 28,693 New Plymouth ... 10,659 Greymouth 600 Westport 6,659 Nelson " 5,200 Picton 8,299 Oxf <>rd-Eyreton branch 5,692 Soutlibridgo branch . . . 2,905 Springfield-White Cliffs branch 1,849 Temuka-Palmeratonmain line 15,369 Albury branch ... 2,166 Dantroon „ „. 6,774 Ngapara „ ... 4,716 Walton Park „ ... 1,278 Outram „ ... 3,413 Lawrence „ ... 7,710 Clinton— Kingston main line 21,887 Tapanui branch ... 5,081 Riverton-Otautau branch 7,571

£208,522 If we deduct from the total loss the £45,098 gained on the Christa church and Dunedin sections wo havo the net loss ascertained for the year stated, viz., £163,424. This amount has to be obtained by taxation, m order to meet the interuhl payable ou the cost of construct, ing tho linoH. We will now show m what ponition tho colony is. Thirteen yeara ag6 the Publio Works policy was initiatod. Millions of borrowed money wore obtained from Homo, and poured out like water. It was not attempted to confine the expenditure to strictly [revenue.producing works. " Indirectly-pro-dtidtiye 1 " expenditure was a political cry. Since that time £20,000,000 have been spent on public works, immigration, and other objects out of loan ; the public debt has grown to £30,000,000, and the annual charge on account of the loan is now £1,600,000. Of this sum about. £1,000,000 goes to pay interest on ; money borrowed under the Public Works scheme, towards which the ; railways contributed last year £360,000, which is expected to fall | to £300,000 this year. So- that, as j a contemporary remarks, " the people of New Zealand are now paying j annually over £700,000 out of the general taxation for the indirect advantages of fch© puolio works scheme." The facts s.et out show how deeply the colony is involved. We shall have more tp say on the* subject on a future occasion.