RAILWAY POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 798, 22 April 1910, Page 7

RAILWAY POLICY.

SPEECH,BY THE PREMIER, MORE ABOUT THE 3* PER CENT, POLICY. PRIVATE LINES DEPRECATED.

Whilst at Levin yesterday the Prinn Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) made some interesting remarks on an important I phase of the railways policy, when replying to representations from the Horowhenua County Council and the Levin Borough Council in favour of the ronstruotioii of a line from Levin to ' , Greatford. • . :

Referring to the proposed line, Mr. Field, M.P., said that it would pas* through much valuable flat country; In addition, it would mean that; the journey from Wellington to Auckland would be shortened by 16 miles, which would be equivalent to one hour.

Mr. Gardener (Mayor of Levin) declared that scores of people would he willing to put capital into the proposed lino, which should pay handsomelj.' If, however, the Government would agree to construct it, there would be no' difficulty' in getting a guarantee to make up any difference in the earningi un to 3i per cent, on the cost.- They wished'to know exactly what were the intentions of the Government in the matter. Somo years ago a promise was mado that the line would be surveyed, but. that had never been done;

Mr. M'Leavey pointed out that there might at any. time bo difficulty in connection with the present line owing to ■ the fact of the Makerua swamp, which was being drained, sinking. ■ Sir Joseph explained that the Got-. eminent was not in favour of private people making railways. Almost every- "'''■ where that there had been private rafl- ■ ways in addition to State lines, the former had been a'failure, and as a ":. rule pressure was ■ sooner or later, brought on the Government of' the country to purchase them. In fact, it .-.'■' usually turned out that it.would have been better for. the Government to have constructed ; the lines in the first place, fie knew something about negotiations for the acquisition of private lines; as, ■-. • for instance, he took part in those in connection with the Manawatu line. If .the Government allowed the proposed railway to be built by private enter- !"'•■' prise, it would be charged with the .' stoppage of the circulation of the money that was expended in if and told ■ that the line had been necessary it should have been' built by the Government. As regards' the decision of the Government that future railways must' pay 3J per cent, on the cost of con- ' Btruction, he would like to make the position quite clear: -If ; the. proposal ' had been in operation 25 years ago he ' was sure that one or two of the pre» sent railways would never have been built. The fact was that the Government would require to get a guarantee of a return over a period of years of the 3}per cent, on the cost of construction of a proposed'line. If that were not insisted upon the result would be one of two things—either a- less vigorous policy of construction or a very great increase of. the. "cost of freights aud rates to make a reasonable return in respect, of the whole of the railways." Before, starting on a .. line the '.Government should ascertain - whether it would be able to pay 3 j por cent, on the cost of construction within a reasonable time. Lines which would be a very heavy burden for all time , were undesirable. To prevent the construction of really, unprofitable lines the Government was following a sound route by Bayiug that thore should be a system—he did not say as inflexible as the laws of the Mede.s ; and the Per- ; siahs—under which there' would be what was only;a reasonable return on the cost within a reasonable Districts benefiting would be required ;to' "guarantee to .contribute any difference between the, earnings and 3£' per cent.■". of the cost. That 'was 'exactly what the: Government proposed to ask the country! to agree to. It should be agreed to in, order to get the uncompleted lines finished as early' as pos- " eible, as, in the meantime, these railWays could not give their full return on their outlay. He realised that the ■. present, railways fell far short of the requirements of the future: many hundreds, or he. should, say thousands, of ' mile's, had "yet to.be made. There wjw one line in particular, and for its inauguration the present Government was not responsible, which paid only about 7s. per cent, oh a very large sum,about two. millions. The fact of the \ loss.'- on that lino was being., used against the. whole .- railway system—the. Souti V Island 'parti-" cularly—as though" the ', 'whole of ' ■them did not pay. ki he had said, before, the Government could not help , the present position of that line. The -, •'•'• people should be asked to protect the ■ Government against the possibility' cf undertaking the construction of lines which would not pay a reasonable percentage.; If the. Government were _to undertake to make all the railways. wherover:a guaranjgg- =as given to jnafcs iip aDv,-ioßs ; up to 3} : per cent:, it would require to spend.a very large , amount, perhaps twenty millions ia one year. The duty of the Govern- ■■ irient, however, was to protect the - . people against themselves. If. New ■ ; Zealand wanted to preserve its good name financially, it should not go in for. : over-railroading, even although guarantees were offered. If the Government.'. were to go in for wholesale borrowing ■. for railways, under those circumstances the result would be that its good name would stink in, financial circles, and!,; the effects would, re-act on everybody. , in the country. The Government 1 must , ' not yield to people who were particu- ;'.■ Jarly anxious to get railways—the re- : quests should . receive mature consid- ■'"•'"• erationj: for it might turn out that the railway in question would never pay a reasonable percentage. In , hia opinion, the; best course for the Government to adopt would be to lay down a straight-out policy/ and to ■ name the railways which were to be undertaken: first and within a reasonable time. He ;

also thought that : the Government should ask the people to assist it to adhere to its policy in the "matter in order that' too much might not be- undertaken at one time. • If there was a promise made to ; have the proposed line surveyed, and reported upon,' that would be done, but that, of course,, would not imply that the Government would go on with the work. , :