The Dominion. TODAY, DECEMBER 1, 1911. THE RAILWAYS ADMINISTRATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1300, 1 December 1911, Page 6

The Dominion. TODAY, DECEMBER 1, 1911. THE RAILWAYS ADMINISTRATION.

We make no apology for continuing even in the turmoil of the clcc-. tion campaign our attention to the administration of our railways system. During the past four years a very great part of our space has been given up to a close and continuous criticism of the methods of the Railways Department, with some good results. Tho Government has 'been forced into surrendering to the demand that the railways should pay, the need for a change, in the unfair and unwise construction policy has been admitted, and, gener; ai'ly speaking, the good habit of criticising and scrutinising the railways management has been spread from the press of the far North to the press of the far South. There is still much to bo done, however, before this great public enterprise can be considered to be managed on right lines. Mr.. Miu.au, we have always admitted, would really like to'deal fairly, if he could, by the employees at one end and the public at the other, but he. is hopelessly hampered in two respects. In the. first place he is entirely ignorant of railroading and therefore under the thumb of his head officials, misguided by them, and influenced into acting unfairly, unjustly, and foolishly. In the second place he has to subordinate his wishes in a very large measure to the political exigencies of the makeshift Ministry to which he chooses to belong. In Dunedin the other day he exposed his fetters. There would, he said, "always be trouble," and "there would always be trouble to give satisfaction" in the railways management, "because you have a_ public demanding increased services and reduced fares and you have a Service that are wanting higher wages." He went on to defend tho electioneering advance in the pa_y of some of the railwaymen as being not an electioneering, dodge but a fulfilment of a promise made two years ago. Now, 'nobody has asked for "reduced fares and freights"; although there havo been frequent and just demands for non-discrimination in , rates between tho North and South 1 Islands. The railwaymen, however, have rightly_ asked, and asked again, and asked in vain, for better I treatment. Given a free hand, and given a Head Office with n proper _ understanding and publie spirit, Jin. Millar would long ago have removed that mass of grievances which has been, the staple subject of the two Service magazines—the :Vcw Zealand Review and the Railway Officers' Advocate—ior over two years. But Mr;. Millar has not a free hand : his position as a member of the Government has forced him into antagonism towards the Service. Nor has his Head Office sufficient ability, judgment, or. public spirit for the large responsibilities placed upon it: it is the creation of a. "spoils to the- victors" Administration, and i has very evident limitations. As a .result tho puhlic suffers, and the employees suffer. Tho public is robbed by mismanagement, and the employees aro maltreated. Under a decent system, the interests of. the public and the interests of the railwaymen could and would blend together; an honest and sincere Government would see that they blended. Good management, the liberation of the railways from the bonds of party necessities, and the promotion of the public interest from the last to tho first place, in the maxims of management would save so many hundreds of thousands of pounds that there could happen together an easing of rates and an increase of the wages avid salaries of the rank and iile of the Service. Nothing could more clearly light up I be essential hostilityoo f . the. Railways Department to Ihe railwaymen (bdn the attitude of Mn. Slilup, Mr.. IioxAYXK. and the Chief Clerk in respect of the petition of the Railway Officer:.' Institute which I was reported upon by the Railways

Committee of the House on October 27 last. Mr.. Ivosayse's letter of criticism was a provocative dismissal of the complaints of over-work, under-pay, cheese-paring, and exploitation preferred by the Institute. _Mij._Miu.aii, under his ollienrs' dictation, was consistently hostile during the hearing of evidence; and (he Chief Clerk was so plainly unsympathetic as on one occasion to arouse the indignation of the Committee. The Head Office officials aro no doubt acting as they think tho Government would have ibem act. That is one of the evils of the system—the political influence. Of course Mi;. Millai; has presented the men with a twopenny-halfpenny increase of pay as a pre-election douccur~t\vi exact sum in the case of a large section of employees 2£rl. according to Mr. Miliar himself. The railwaymen, however, have endured too long the grievances that they must endure in 'order that the railways may be run as a branch of Wardist politics: and the} will know the value to attach to the death-bed fraud that is attempted against them by the Government. They have thought too long, and their interests have been too closely touched, for this absurd little 2|ci. sop to affect them; and they must know that to support the Ward Administration, or anyone who is on its side, is to deliver themselves into the hands of a political ring that cares as little for them as for the public—except of coursa on voting day. The remedying of tho legitimate grievances of the railwaymen can como only as part of a wider reform, namely, tho remedying of the public's wrongs; and that can be secured only by the purification of politics. The Government, on Mn. Millar's own showing, in Mr Millar's own words, wishes to play off the railwaymen against the public. Here is his antithesis, to which we have already referred:— "There is always trouble and always will be trouble to give satisfaction. Because you have a public demanding increased services and reduced fares, and you have a Service that arc wanting higher wages" (Duncdin Slar November 10). And so his Government will continue to play off tin Service against- the public if tb Service and the public do not face the facts and take the necessary steps to rescue this £:J0,000,000 enterprise from the hands of a purely selfish political party.