The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1913. RAILWAY PROBLEMS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1650, 17 January 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1913. RAILWAY PROBLEMS.

OUR Auckland correspondent summarised for us yesterday an interesting statement by the Minister for Public Works in reply to a deputation which was urging the construction of a new railway lino from Rotorua to Taupo. Twenty years of Spoils government and twenty years of encouraging local communities to come and ask Ministers for a share of the borrowed millions has left the 'Reform Government a difficult aii"»iV«fiion to deal with. Instead of 'encouraging patience and prudence, and teaching the country' to understand that national development should be a national policy, and should be shaped by the Government of the day with an eye only to the national interest, past "Liberal" Ministries, in order to convert local desires to the uses of Spoils politics, energetically and steadily enoounigod local I districts to make constant demands

upon the Exchequer. Perhaps the diseaso may take almost ns long to cure as it took to cultivate it, but wc must all welcome every step which Ministers take towards restoring sanity_ and convincing the local communities that a halt must be called in the wild competition for shares of the money borrowed from abroad.. Mr:- Fraser was only saying what everybody "knows when he said that there are. limits to what the State- can do in the way of railway construction; but he appears to haye made this point with an emriiasis that gives it an extra value. The suggestion was made, that if the Government could not construct the line, the people of tho district might be'empowered to build it themselves. .As a Minister,. Mr. Fraser could of course say. only that the_ Government .was bound by the policy of State ownership of .railways, but ho expressed his personal view that "if private enterprise was willing to undertake a heavy responsibility like this, the State should not bo guilty of a,dog-ih-thc-manger attitude." The Ward Government was agile enough in evading public issues, but it failed' to evade this one: once within' the space of twelve months it laid dowii Wo exactly opposite policies.' If a district, it was first announced, would show its faith'in the line it asked for, to tho'extent of guaranteeing all the cost of working it* it could have the line. 4 Subsequently the. Government declared that if a lmc would pay, there would bo "no merit" in a local guarantee. .The problem. of, the district which really needs, and can support, and , will greatly, benefit itself and the whole country by having, a 'railway for which the State has no money to sparo ; will, remain to trouble the Government for a considerable time. But this difficulty, would' not have arisen had it noi been that\ the money; available; for railway . construction was mis-spent' for a long period •• of yoars, No other result than the infliction; of injustice on promising districts/ the railing of which would be of advantage to the whole country, could follow the prosecution 'of- the haphazard and hand-to-mouth policy of making political necessities a prime factor in\ railroad construction. ' ■;•"' '■ ;.

In many parts ofithis island'there are districts;in which the lack of a railway line', is a glaring absurdity, arid nobody can wonder that the inhabitants of these'districts are sorely galled..• ■■.•whenever tbiy/: read .the statistical proofs of blundering and mismanagement in railway instruction and railway adniinistration.' Last night's Gazette contains the, latest instalment of the case against the management, of. the railways. This consists of the figures for the four weeks and the 30 weeks ended December 7 lastj For the four weeks the net revenue was £85,696, as in tho preceding year, and as usualthe bulk of this ;was furnished by the North Island lines: . £49,944 as. against £35,752 from tho lines in the South. But for the; 36 weeks the total net returns are actually less than_ for. the first 36 weeks oi the financial year 191112. . The drift of the system to the. bad is made" clear in the following comparative table:— ;•; 'i.; , Gross Ex- Gross Net ' ■. i penditure. Revenue. Revenue. .£.,:- . £ ■•■.-■■■£ :••••• 1911-12 ...... 1,029,725 ;2,402,506 772,781 1912-13: ..;.:; 1,822,679 2,500,616 / 767,907 Usually,: after' 36. weoks. of the rail; .'ways year' have elapsed, tho net rev-' enue shows a large;, advance on tho. net revenue'of the preceding year, ■ and even then; o*wing to tho increase in the interest charges, due to the; great increase of capital, sunk in the y system,' the year always ends! with a real deficit, although tho unsound accounting methods often enable-a paper "surplus" to be shown. In the current year, however, there is an actual shrinkage in the net revenue, and since the capital invested has continued to increase and with it tho interest bill,' wo,may look' for-, ward to a bad result by March 31 next. These figures point ,vory ( plainly, of course; to the great,urgency of a drastic overhaul of the administration: of the Railways Department, but the point we wish,to make to-day is this: that tho districts which lack railways,-.but in which railways would pay,-and would greatly increase tho national wealth,, must not only go without owing to the bad policy of railway construe-; tion in the.past-arid the.bad management superimposed on, that, but must indirectly bear a share of the losses. We have often urged iri thoj past that a definite policy, if not a' definite programme, of railway construction is sorely needed. The need is as.sore as ever,' and it is the duty of the Government to tako the matter in hand with as li.ttlo delay as need be. ( • ' '.'.'■