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EXTRACTS FROM " HANSARD."

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. In the House on August 7th during the discussion on the Estimates, and when the eobjeot of the salary of the General Manager of Railways was being debated, Major Steward said the Premier had addressed a very careful speech on the subject to the Committee, bud the honorable gentleman looked at the matter wholly from a Government point of view, and perhaps was not able to appreciate the grievances of whloh the farmers and others who used the railways oomplalned so dearly as he would if he were not In office. There were oomplatnts m every district of the way In which the railways were managed. He was not there to lay blame at the door of Mr Maxwell or anybody else ; bat the general impression throughout the colony, rightly or wrongly, was that the railways could ba made to serve the pnblio convenience better than they did, And at the same time produce as good and poßslbly better financial results. The Premier strongly opposed anything In the direction of a differential rate : so he also understood the honorable member for the Bailer to do. He (Major Steward) did not see that a system whereby everything was fixed by one rule could work well ; because local circumstances had a great deal to do with the matter. There were local circumstances, many of them very simple, which render ad it necessary that no hard-and-fast rules should be applied to all the railways of the colony. He would give au instance to prove what he was saying. There was a email branch Hnejiuuning from Studholme Juncti nto Wa'mate. When commercial travel'e-s arrived at the Junction from Dunedln or Christchuroh with twenty or thirty csee, they sent them into town by ixprecsmen because they got them con- j veyed by that me ins cheaper than if they sent them by railway. With regard to the management of the railways he must say that where there was so much smoke there must ba some fire; and the general public of the oolony were not all fools by any means — thby embraced among their numbers the business men of the colony ; and go where one would one found the same general feeling prevailing that the railways might, by a little more attention to local circumstances, produce better finanolal i e -alts. He hoped very soon to see a Railway Board appointed, under which It might be ant'oipated that the linea would be worked more satisfactorily. Mr Walker thought a mistake had been made m the manner In whloh this class of the estimates had been brought down to to the House. Either they should have been brought down m a totally different form, In view of the approaching appointment of a Board of Management, or, being brought down In the form m whloh they were brought down, then they should have shown the same redactions as had been made In the other classes of the estimates. He did not mean to Bay for a moment that £1000 a year was not a proper salary for the gentleman who had the management of our railways. He would not be even disposed to cay thatla larger sum than that woold be too much. Bnt when the Government brought down m the Fame night estimates which showed that the gentleman m charge of the highly scientific branoh of the service — the surveyß— was to be reduced to £750, and maintained the General Manager of Railways at a salary of £1000, which had been the rate paid for some years, he thought there was room for criticism. He thought that this gentleman ought to submit to the same reduction as every other head of a department had been subjected to. Therefore he should be, unfortunately, obliged to vote for the amendment of the honorable member for Waihemo ; but he should do bo without wishing his vote to be taken as an indication that ha agreed with the opinion that had been expressed by the honorable member for Waihemo, that the gentleman referred to should be driven from the railway service. He was not m a position to say that that ought to be done ; but he was m a position to say that a great deal of the dissatisfaction which had been given pxpreßßion to that night and at other timeß was undoubtedly well founded. Be was very sorry to hear the manner m which the Minister m charge of the estimates referred to members coming to this or that opinion with regard to the management of the railways. The honorable gentleman seemed to think that it was only members who were dissatisfied, and who expressed the opinion that changes were necessary. He begged to assure the honorable gentleman that he was quite wrong. Members expressed the opinions of a large body of the people; and, moreover, he thought it was quite right and perfectly reasonable that members should go to a Mioistry or to the ' General Manager, or come to that House, and express their opinions when they believed that anything wrong waa done. And he thought the Minister for Public Works had no right to blame members for the action they took m that direction. In fact, the action of members was looked at from an altogether wrong standpoint, If the Minister and if the department would only look at members' remarks m the light of being suggestions m order to aßsiet the department, much of the friction would be done away with. The fault of the department was that they rejected assistance, and seemed to regard all suggestions as insults Whenever suggestions were made, the answer waa generally, at any rate of such a nature as to lead persons who made the suggestion to suppose that the department would be very n?uch obliged if they would not offer suggestions, again.

Mr B. Hallenstein, writing to the " Daily Times," expresses the opinion that those who are now going to Melbourne will m twelve months be worse off than if they bad remained here. He adds :— •' Viotoria, though m many respects a muoh inferior country to New Zealand, has hitherto been more prosperous, through having adopted a more economical policy, and one more conducive to the progress of a young country. But the present feverish prosperity of Melbourne — if prosperity it oan ba oalled — will as sure as I am now penning theße lines, leave that oity m a stata . of prostration from wbioh it will not recover for many a day ; and the bulk of those who at this stage go to Melbourne, will not be m time to reap sufficient of the good things to compensate for the misery to follow. I do not expect, nor do I wish for a < boom ' suoh as they now have m Melbourne, but I have no hesitation m saying that here we are making far better times. Settlement is gradually increasing, all our raw products are steadily rising, interest is lower, while agricultural and pastoral lands are approaohing prices at which they oan be profitably oooupied.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AG18880829.2.23

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1931, 29 August 1888, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,182

EXTRACTS FROM "HANSARD." Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1931, 29 August 1888, Page 3

EXTRACTS FROM "HANSARD." Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1931, 29 August 1888, Page 3

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