Where the Rt. Hon. Mr. Seddon's Surpluses came from.

It is quite clear that they were obtained by this manipulation of the Railway account. As I have shown above, during the last five years the Government has charged to Railway Capital page 6 Account £944,769 which ought to have been charged to Revenue Account; and have incurred a further liability of over £400,000, to cover which and help the rate of interest up, they last session took another vote for "Additions to Open Lines" of £675,000. It is manifest that if these items had been rightly charged, that instead of a surplus, there must have been a very large deficiency. The expenditure on this account for the current year is almost certain to exceed half a million, for as I have already stated there is the liability of £400,000 to be provided for, and also the quarter million surplus which the Right Hon. the Premier promises us.

As the charges I have made against the Government and the Railway Department are very serious, it will be as well to apply a few more tests as to their accuracy.

As business men, we all know that if the proportion of gross revenue of our various establishments consumed in working expenses is constantly increasing there must be something wrong with the management. Let us apply this test and see.