RAILWAY COMPLAINTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1415, 16 April 1912, Page 6

RAILWAY COMPLAINTS.

We continue to be deluged with complaints concerning the inconvenience and discomfort which travellers and business people have to put up with in connection with the railway service of the Dominion. Unsatisfactory time-tables, overcrowded trains, delays in running and late arrival at destination—these form the principal grounds of grievance, and in most cases the complaints appeal, to bo well founded. An occasional lapse might be 'satisfactorily accounted for, but the conduct _ of this great public service is growing from bad to worse, and no amount of explanation can obscure the fact that the management is shockingly _ unsatisfactcyy. Tho public convenience would appear to be a quite minor consideration, and the position really calls for drastic measures. It is, of course, impossible for Mr. Myers, with the heavy burdens of the Finance and Defence Departments also on his hands, to have given any close attention to the Railways Department in the short time that he ! has held the portfolio of Minister for Ilailways, and we do not wish to lay any blame at his door for the state of things complained of. But it is urgently necessary that lie should at the earliest possible moment go thoroughly into the question of reorganising the management of the railways of the country with a view to introducing 6ome order aud system into the service. It has come to be generally recognised that, while the rank and file of the railway service are fully competent to carry out the duties entrusted to them, there is need for a more highly qualified expert lit the head of affairs. With the continual additions to the system, the railways have grown into a very largi; undertaking, aud it is doubtful if the service will ever be placed on a satisfactory footing until the Government realise the desirableness of going abroad and securing a man of wide experience and tried judgment to take charge of the management. It would bo necessary to pay e la rep salary, no doubt, to ?<v cure tUo ekes of man vfioukeoL but

that would be a more bagatelle compared with l-lii! differ;iice it would make, in the administration of the railways if the 'right man were engaged. The new Minister is reported to be a man of sound judgment in business affairs, and he of course is well aware that in the management of large business undertakings it pays to secure the best talent available for responsible posts. He must ere this have gathered some idea of the muddlenient which has been going on in the management of the railways, and he probably has already given some thought to the question of going abroad to obtain the services of an expert in railways management to place matters on a better footing. Mn. Millar is reported to have had difficulty in convincing his colleagues of the necessity for changing the railway policy laid down by Sir Joseph Ward, and we believe he was hampored to some extent in his administration on this account. But Mr. Myers should not experience any such trouble. The new Ministry is so full of professions of good intentions in the matter of administration that if Mr. Myeiis presses his views with that firmness of which he appears to be capable, his colleagues would be greatly embarrassed should they attempt to overrule him.