The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1912. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1522, 19 August 1912, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1912. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

_ One of the results that wo should like to expect from Parliament's consideration of tho position of the contractors for the Otira tunnel is the beginning of a complete transformation of the existing system of railway construction. What , the country requires, and should have, is something _ like _ a definite construction policy, if not a definite construction programme.' Under the old regime railways were often built, not because they should have been built, but because it was deemed by the party in power politically expedient to build them. Districts could be, and were, rewarded or punished by tho Seddon and Waud Administrations by being granted or denied new railway lines. As a result there arc to-day lines that need never have been built, and unrailcd areas the railing of which would greatly benefit the' whole country; and as a result of that the working of the railways system has annually yielded a heavy, loss. In the past wo had to deal with this subject scores of times, and to proposo that instead of the haphazard and "political tinkering with the general problem of railway construction the Government should work along some clear lines and according to definite principles. Now that there has been a change of Government, the country has a right to expect that there will be a change in this branch of public works expenditure. Unfortunately it is impossible to say that tho new Government lias made any move as yet. Last Tbu-s----day a deputation of Otago members of Parliament waited on'■the I'R'Siz Minister and the Minister for Public Works to urge a vigorous developmental policy in Otago, some items of which were the extensiou of the Otago-Central and LawrenceRoxburgh linos, In his reply Mil. Massfa- dwelt on the financial difficulty of granting all the requests for public works expenditure, and assured the deputation that "they could be sure that Otago would not be neglected." Mil. Fkaser took the Bame line, and made in addition the point that "it was hardly fair'to expect from this Cabinet so early a statement as to what works they could see their way to put in hand at once." No doubt what, Mn. Phaser aaid is true enough—the Government has only been a few weeks in office. Hut in other respects how often in tin; past we have bad to report almost precisely similar conversations between Ministers and deputations: There were (he usual cxpatiaUons on the benefits that would accvuo from tho expenditure oroposed. tho usual Ministerial

warnings that, the financial aspect would be considered, the usual admissions of merit in the claims presented, and the usual undci-takiVs to have justice done. It was too much like old times to be to our taste at all. Although nobody could oxnect the new Government to nam.-oft-hand all its railway construction projects, had a right to expect that the P, UIIE Mixisteu would say something to indicate his contemplation of sonic remedy for the haud-to-iv,outh system of n ,„_ struc ion vyiiich has led to such a'de])loral)id waste of public moncv. Just now Parliament has before "it the is.ee of the very worst fruit of the oacl system of making railway construction a thing to be moulded bv pressure from all tho districts able to exercise, pressure. We refer of course, to the Midland Railway' In considering the petition of the." tunnel contractors, Parliament slum hi take the opportunity of considcri i" the whole problem of construction. ' Me. Massey mentioned that tho claims of Otago for new railway construction would not suffer from Ministerial ignorance of the districts tor winch railways were asked. Mr. I'iuser, he said, was thoroughly acquainted with the districts and their requirements. Nobody will doubt ■ that that is so; but does Mn. Fiuser or anyone else know all the requirements of all the districts in the whole country? Of course nobody could have such knowledge. N Q attempt n.as ever been made in the past to , take a survey of the country as a whole, and nothing short of such a survey, by competent investigators, will furnish even the data preliminary to tho consideration of a national policy of railway construction. There san.X°l.5 an .X° l . 1 no argument against the ieasibihty of such a broad treatment ot the subject: if it is possible to determine one way or the other tho case for a railway in any one district, it is equally possible—and it is obviously necessary—to do tho same for the whole of New Zealand. Deputations-to Ministers can do no more, actually, than acquaint the Government with a fact which it knew beforehand and which everyone knows by instinct, namely, that certain districts desire ra'ilwavs. They always do desire thorn, and always i will. Not the desires of the districts, however, but the .necessities of the nation, should direct the custodians of the nation's purse. Experience has taught us not to expect too much from Iloyal Commissions, or we should suggest a .Royal Commission on Railway Construction policy. But there arc wavs and means by which, if not a "definite programme, at any rate a definite construction policy for 'some years ahead could be drawn up and established. The Government should give some specific assurance that it means in this very important matter to protect itself and the nation from local log-rolling and sectional pressures. •