'No Sense of Achievement from Raised Fares
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A N application to increase fares follow ing the latest awards to company bus crews, costing the Southdown bus company (with other cost increases taken into account) an extra £300,000 a year, had already been granted, reported Mr. R. P. Beddow recently. 'It is perhaps a natural reaction that the travelling public should feel annoyance when bus fares are increased yet again. We who are responsible for providing the service feel no sense of achievement in this course of action; indeed to us the necessity for it is a matter of deep regret ", he said.
"However, in an industry where more than 70 per cent of the costs of operation are representel by wages, it surely follows that the economy of that industry
is particularly sensitive to increases in the pay of its employees."
Mr. Beddow was speaking at the 51st annual meeting of Southdown Motor Services Ltd. and reported that the overall position of the company's trading result for the past year showed a decrease of more than £13,000 compared with the previous year. The overall net profit for the year showed an increase of £28,000, however, but Mr. Beddow also referred to the provisions of the proposed Finance Bill and said that it might be of dismal interest for the stockholders to know that had the Bill (as it now stands) been in force, with a corporation tax of 40 per cent, the tax provision would have gone up from £117,000 to £214,000.