H,— 4o,

The year 1934 saw the entry of a number of licensees in rural areas following on the reletting of many of the mail contracts in the North Island. These operators carry relatively few passengers. The swing-over to larger vehicles is still noticeable, as the following figures show : —

Percentages of Vehicles comprised in North Island Total.

The 1934 mean figure is probably influenced largely by the entry of a number of rural-mail-contract cars into the passenger field ; if these had also been included with the 1933 figures the mean for that year would probably have been less than thirteen. (ii) Revenue. The following table summarizes briefly the revenue figures during the last three years : —

North Island: Year ended 31st March.

This improvement of 1935 over 1934 has not been due to fare-increases. The majority of the fare schedules remained unchanged, except for a number of reductions. (iii) Expenditure. The following are the chief expenditure figures covering the last three years : —

North Island: Year ended 31st March.

The increase in running-costs per mile for 1935 as compared with 1934 is due partly to the amount written off as depreciation of the vehicles, which represented 10-9 per cent, of the purchase price, as compared with 10-5 per cent, during the previous year. The average mileage per vehicle remained at just over 20,000 miles. Vehicle standing charges per mile are practically the same as last year. Although the total amount of wages (including drawings in lieu thereof) have fallen, the amounts per mile and per vehicle have increased, showing a greater proportional return.

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1933. 1934. 1935. More than nine seats ...... 36 45 46 Not more than nine seats .... 36 27 27 " Mixed" fleets ........ 28 28 27 100 100 100 Mean seating-capacity .. .. .. 13-4 13-5 14-3

1933. 1934. 1935. £ £ £ Passenger revenue .. .. .. 564,035 519,372 521,588 Other revenue .. .. .. .. 74,145 70,116 73,130 Total revenue .. .. .. 638,180 589,488 594,718 d. cl. d. Passenger revenue per passenger .. .. 10-17 8-97 9-59 Passenger revenue per mile .. .. 8-18 8-05 8-40 Other revenue per mile .. .. .. 1-08 1-09 1-18 Total revenue per mile .. .. 9-26 9-14 9-58

1933. J 1934. 1935. Vehicle-running costs (petrol, lubricants, tires, Aggregate: £ 339,625 305,385 298,475 repairs, maintenance, depreciation) Per mile d. 4-93 4-74 4-81 Vehicle standing charges (license fees, wages, Aggregate : £ 213,682 205,419 198,958 drawings in lieu of wages, insurance, garage fees) Per mile: d. 3-10 3-19 3-20 General overhead charges (management and office Aggregate: £ 81,452 59,619 60,923 expenses, interest, advertising, &c.) Per mile: d. 1-82 0-92 0-98 Total operating-costs .. .. .. Aggregate: £ 634,759 570,423 558,356 Per mile : d. 9-21 8-85 8-99