THE RAILWAYS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20093, 24 November 1930, Page 16

THE RAILWAYS.

REMOVAL FROM POLITICS. CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE STATEMENT. The New Zealand Railways, and the concern, with which their condition is regarded by the general community, form the subject of a statement from the Associated Chambers of Commerce. The statement maintains that for best results the railways should be removed from all political influences, and compares conditions here with those existing in other countries. "Those who have been brought into close contact with this important part of the country's activities cannot fail to realise that there is something radically wrong with the system by which this great national asset is operated. The report of the recent Royal Commission covered the whole ground so frankly and so thoroughly that it is impossible, with an open mind, to resist its conclusion that in order to obtain the best results from the Dominion s railways they should be removed from all political influences, and entrusted to thoroughly equipped experts whose aim would be, not to promote this particular interest or that, but to obtain the best possible results from the national interest entrusted to their eare and direction. In every country where Stateowned railways have been a success their control has been entirely divorced "from politics. Example of Canada. "Canada provides a striking example, among many of the fruits of untrammelled management. The various railway enterprises which now constitute the Canadian National system had gone from bad to worse to a hopeless financial condition. The Government of the day realised that drastic measures were needed, and by the welding together of the vario*'T units into a cohesive whole, under a management absolutely untrammelled by political influence, saved the situation. The result was striking and definite, and remains as irrefutable evidence of the great value of the change in policy. Germany, Belgium, and other European countries have achieved similar results from the abolition of political interference. Sir Henry Thornton, one of the leading railway and financial authorities of the day, has stated that the recovery in Canada was made possible only by the exclusion of politics from

G. C. Grant, not out ... ... 0 4 Extra ... ... ... 1 Total for three wickets ... 61 SLOW SCORING, HOBBS MAKES FOURTEEN IN EIGHTY MINUTES. IUi'.ITED PKESS ASSOCIATION —BX ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH —COPYRIGHT.) (Received November 23rd, 5.5 p.m.) DELHI, November '-22. An amazed crowd of X5,0C0 saw J. B. Hobbs set still another record when he batted one hour for five runs. Hobbs and Svtcliffe played. for the Vizianagram Eleven against Sir Stanley Jackson's team. Hobbs went out Ibw for 14, after ft) minutes' batting. Sir Stanley Jackson's team made 373 anc * 46, and the Virianagran tide made 73 and 36 for no tickets.

the sphere of railway management. It || will be remembered that Sir Otto Jfifr meyer, "writing, to the Hon. E. A. Baasom, the Acting-Prime Minister; only i little while ago, urged in mneh the nae way as the Eoyal Commission had flow that New Zealand should keep' its railways free from political influence m its inevitable results. Faults in Control. < « "There is another matter ia : «wwfion with this railway problem whichu legitimately open to discussion, report of the recent Boyal CpnmusMi deals to some extent with the intend working of the Railway Depart®®'' and implies that there is room for mntt improvement in this directors of big eoace™ lay down their policies after liberation and then give head authority, to develop them. «• Eoyal Commission, however, fol ™- arrangement of this kind Zealand railway service. The Pf tells us, indeed, that 'the powers General Manager are . res , tnc 'f i ealffio t very narrowest limits. ' v_ effectively discipline t hoie of his staff, nor can he P r °™ ote of good conduct and P ro Y. ed very An Appeal Boar may te aU 17 in theory, and in some cases * , { desirable in practice, serves as an obstacle to ;f C an impediment to service. it be a help to efficiency or » ■« justice. Here, surely, 18 ® O .. er radical reform. Many of the enn the railway system in * h^ed— to ready enough—too ready gjaepl nounee the staff, from. th» Manager downwards, but acquainted with all th ® prtp»rwould realise that a very tion of the troubles which officials are due to a sys . spires neither ambition nor energy , _ A Remedy Suggested. ' "That the railway o i,jUe^ tive as it is, in spite of all t it encounters, is the staff in general, to the report of the ®^ wrtsß t deals mainly with two P . nter f el esft —the removal of polite® •. * jatetf" l and the institution of effioeu working of the Department "There are other ™ a^ e " lace d bcW tention which ha 7l * ?he B^® 1 the Government by 7 ® g Surf J#® l " mission, but the two tie tioned are the channels Dy railff ,js salvation of the DoD * . j It is # j' must be ultimately only useless, it is obvi gjistW blame the management, n» conditions, for the plig reSP? 1 ' th, railways have drifted. sibility rests with the p every adult indiv l durf ui t . ll^a oe —to see that the railways a remunerative service f munitv at large, and _ an increasing b «*den.up totrilm t«M tlie producers, and the ais the j