A TRIUMPH FOR STATE ENTERPRISE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 458, 17 March 1909, Page 6

A TRIUMPH FOR STATE ENTERPRISE.

A correspondent whose letter appears in another column corroborates and amplifies the account which we gave yesterday of the latest eccentricities of the suburban service on the Manawatu railway line. Ever since tho Government assumed control of this section of the railways tho train services have been thoroughly unsatisfactory; tho residents of the suburbs have grown weary of making complaints. Under the management .of the company, while the train services were not so frequent as desired, the occasions for complaint ' concerning the running of trains were rare. But, even so, great things wero expected from the change of management. We were to see the State's acquisition of the line followed by an immediate substitution of punctuality and dispatch for _ irregularity and delay—a triumphant vindication, in short, of the theory that. State officials would display such efficiency and economy as are beyond the compass of officials employed by a profit-earning private enterprise. In all probability the suburban users of the Manawatu line wore hopeful, not that existing defects would be remedied, since those defects were inconsiderable, but that they would obtain a service improved beyond conception. So far are the advocates of State enterprise from being justified in their arguments that the suburban service is execrable.

On Saturday last the train which was due to leave Thorndon at 9.30 p.m. failed to reach Johnsonvillc, whore it' was due at 9.58 p.m., until 11.5 p.m. The 11 p.m. train did not leave Wellington until 11.30 p.m., and did not land its passengers at Johnsonville until halfpast one o'clock on Sunday morning. Tho actual journey of seven miles thus occupied two hours! These arc extreme examples, but they illustrate the mismanagement that now appears to be a settled grievance of the suburbs. We can imagine tho indignation with which the public would have regarded such happenings if they had occurred under the company's management. When the first complaints were made respecting the exasperating deterioration of the suburban service, tho Railway Department made some lame excuse about the difficulty of tho drivers in learning tho ways, of the State coal. This ingenious, if unconvincing, excuse served well enough at the time, but months have passed since then, and matters are as bad as ever, and on occasion a great deal worse. The Department has offered no explanation of tho continued muddlemcnt. It cannot be again urged that the drivers are still struggling with the eccentricities of State coal. But, whatever tho reason for the trouble, may be, the Department appears to be singui larly blow to apply any remedy.