Railways revenue in decline

Wellington, August 11: The Minister of Railways, in the course of a statement on railway finance this afternoon, said the revenue for the three periods ending June 24, 1922, showed a decrease in traffic on all sections, except Westport. On the expenditure side there has been a decrease on all sections except Whangarei and the Lake Wakatipu steamers. The Whangarei, Kaihu, Gisborne, and Nelson sections show a loss of £10,000 on the actual cost of operating. The amount of the loss on these sections, including interest, is £28,000. In Canterbury the Little River, Methven and Mount Somers lines and in Otago the Otago Central line show losses which, including interest charges, aggregate £6765 for the three months. The falling off of traffic, which first manifested itself at the beginning of July, 1921, still continues. The decreases are general, and include both goods and passenger traffic, clearly indicating that the people of the country are not spending the same amount of money, and that travelling for pleasure has been largely discontinued. The goods traffic has been detrimentally affected by the reduction in the quantity of sawn timber presented for carriage by rail. The department is continuing the policy of rigid economy, and the saving effected by the curtailment of the train services is reflected in the reduced expenditure of £238,312 for the three months. Included in this is the sum of £104,903, reduction in the wages bill for the three periods.

Three-year NZ Parliament just fine

The report that there is a growing feeling in favour of an extension of the duration of New Zealand Parliaments from three to five years is to be taken with a good deal of reserve. The fact is that the suggestion, broadly speaking, is opposed to the trend of democratic principle. To say, as may be said with reason, that the septennial system in the Home Country erred in the direction of undue length is not tantamount to saying that our own triennial system has the opposite fault. The New Zealand term represents, in fact, a happy and effective mean, ensuring reasonably close communication between electors and elected, while avoiding the theoretic extravagance of the demand, occasionally voiced, for annual Parliaments. — editorial

Colony talked up

"Are the prospects for the emigrant in our colonies as rosy as they are often made out to be?" asks the Yorkshire Telegraph. Mr J. Spencer, who has recently arrived in Sheffield after having lived in New Zealand for twenty years, "and therefore, knows what he is talking about."

Finding that so many people were going out to Australasia with a false impression of the country, he wants to let people know the real facts. He is afraid a lot of the trouble is caused by the Government pamphlets, most of which are out of date, and the shipping agents being after business, painting beautiful pictures where there are none.

"New Zealand was a glorious country before the war, with chances for every man, but since the war things are quite different" writes Mr Spencer.

"We are suffering with the rest of the world and are going through a very bad time. There are thousands of acres lying barren that require opening up. But there are few roads or railways". — ODT, 12.8.1922