LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 126, 20 February 1908, Page 9

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

) OUR INEFFICIENT RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION. Sir,—Now that the holidays aro over, wo may reasonably hopo that in anticipation of tlio coining session, which' will'be here all too soon, our M.P.'s, chambers of commerce, liarhour boards and citizens generally will havo their, attention directed to tho very disgraceful state of inefficiency into which our railway administration has fallen. First let me call, attention to somo very remarkablo utterances of Sir Joseph Ward's during last session. In his speech on imprest supply, Mr. Berries had severely attacked tho railway administration, and had drawn marked attention to tho much greater loss mado on tlio Hurunui-liluff scction than on the Auckland or Wellington-Taranaki-Hawke's Bay sections, although far greater facilities had been given to tho Southern lines. Tho extracts given below are. taken from "Hansard," No. 9, July S>G, 1007. On page (>O2 Sir Joseph commences his reply to Air. llerries by accusing him and myself of unworthy conduct in attempting to crehto an impression that favouritism is being shown to ono island as against tho other. "This," Sir Joseph wont on to say, "is' absolutely contrary to fact, and has been shown to bo so timo and timo again." I defy Sir Joseph to give a singlo instance of when' and where, and think I am justified in retorting that it is quite unworthy of tlio Prime Minister to make statements in .Parliament'that ho cannot prove to. be correct. ..'

Sir Joseph, in trying to. justify tho rapid increase of loss on ■ tho Hurunui-Bluff section, and "tho very slight increase in the gross traffic there, argued that *s timo went on tlio same results must obtain in tho North Island. On pago 664 ho is reported to have said: "As the North Island lines increase in age, they will requiro moro expenditure on repairs than at the present moment, aud they ;will then go through the same process that tho Southern Jines havo ... and the oa. nings of tlio whole of tho railways in the North will require to bo greater than they aro now, in order to maintain either the present gross or net, revenue. Tho disproportion between tho revenue and expenditure will, as tho years go on and a greater capital is invested in. tho North Island, becomo equally as marked in.the North Island as tho lioni member has said-it is now in tho South Island."

On pago 6G5 ho again soys: "Whereas tho cost of working both tho. Auckland and Wol-.lington-Napier-Now Plymouth sections will continuo to materially increase, and this incroaso':may A be expected.in the near future to bo in a very-much, higher ratio than the earnings" T ask why should this bo? 0h.,pag0..'686 h<i says:. "Tho honourablo gentleman (Mr. Herries) says 1 How much further is it going to go.down?' " This is in reforenco to the decreasing rate of interest .earned by our railways. "Wo ought to wait, I repeat hero—and the honourablo member for Hay of Plenty and tho Leader of the Opposition will find it is so too—that when you get the wholo of .the sections of'tho North Island railways completed, and when you havo. to provide the. maximum facilities for handling' and ' carrying your .traffic over the .whole,of the sections—when the timo comes,' as come it must—as' it did in tho South Island,'whore the increased: railway business, \which is brought about by largely increased settlement, and by , the opening up of . new country, and tho. expansion of trade and industries. demand the facilities to deal with tho business, 1 and when the initial cost, of'the railways'has .to bo increased by charges for betterment aiid by expenditure for repairs, that are' not, yet required on, the newer lines of tho North .Island, and when light lines havo to b'e converted into heavy ones, and bridges to,. bo., .transformed from light' structures into heavy' ones—l repeat that when .that time comes—brought about by ago and increasing weight of foiling stock— you will find, however much you may try to disguise it, and however much you may assume that I am not stating'tho'position correctly, if you choose to.'nutVit 'that" way, that the same causes ;''whicli,;havo' operated to bring about tho .results in tho South Island will operate to bring about similar, results in the .'North Island." - ' J At this point Mr.'Herries intorjected —as well ho might—"That is mot .very, encouraging." j ; ' ' ' ' ' My objectj'sir, ill, asking you to reproduce 'these utterances' of tlio right honourablo gentleman, is to draw attontio'n to the' fact that wo have tho Primo Minister of tho Dominion, tho Minister who has so long controlled our railways, ;; arid who has had mdro power and [capital.placet! at his disposal than all his predecessors put together—tho Minister, who-has had all ho . has asked from Parliament for! tho purposo of:carrying out his ideas of railway administration, he is forced to confess his failure and admit that tho result is that they., aro making a rapidly-increasing . loss, and he'now tells us'in."tho dearest ana most forcible, language, th&t this loss must still largely increase. ' ' ;.-' ~ '

1 ask if it- is not amazing to seo a man in -Sir Joseph's 'position stating clearly, dis.tinctly, forcibly, .repeatpdly, that the moro capital wo invest in railway construction, the more wo' extend our mileago, the greater our transit-facilities, tho greater our population, trade,and-commerce, so also must the'loss, on our railways increase.'

r say that- if any good is to ha done with our-railways' the public must take.-the-matter i:i hand. It is abundantly evident that Sir Joseph and his general manager have proved thomselves incapablo of managing them., Sir Joseph, - at "any rate, not; only admits, but loudly asserts,' that under the most favourable circumstances he believes';it to bo -'utterly'impossible 'to- make 'them pay the country. What aro wo to expect when this is tho fixed opinion of tho Minister who controls: them? —l am, etc., : V 'SAMUEL VAIIE. February 1. •■' ■ . .