The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1918. IMPROVING THE RAILWAYS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 55, 29 November 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1918. IMPROVING THE RAILWAYS

The working results of the State railways during the year 1917-18 were disclosed by the. Minister of Railways in May last.. Although to this extent it was anticipated, the .Railways Statement laid beforeParliament yesterday is of more than ordinary interest and importance, the reason being that it raises questions which must now be regarded as urgent, and which hear vitally on the progress and development of the Dominion. So far as the financial results of the year 1917-18 are concerned, little more need be said than that they are creditable to the Minister and his Department. The year was one of extraordinary difficulties. Restrictions and handicaps imposed by the war are suggestively indicated in such'facts as a reduction of'train mileage by 1,677,685. miles in comparison with that of the previous year—a reduction of approximately 18 per cent. Drastic reductions in services and •facilities, though they cut outsome non-paying business, meant, inevitably that during the year a- considerable amount of railway capital was "eating its head off." The Department was handicapped by. the war calls made on its staff and by the high cost and scarcity of essential materials, and it had to make considerable financial concessions to its employees' to counteract the increased cost of living. On the other hand the increase in rates imposed in November last—the second increase of the kind during the war period—was in operation only during the last four months of the 'financial year. In the circumstances' the results obtained are remarkably good. There is an important reservation to be made, however. The not return of £4 12s; per ceut. cannot, of course, be regarded as a complete or final indication of working results. Owing to the scarcity and high price of some materials and the impossibility of obtaining others, a considerable amount of expenditure that would ordinarily have been made on renewals and upkeep has of necessity been postponed, and allowance must be made accordingly in loot ing.at working results for the year.

As has been said, the chief interest of the Statement is in its references to problems of development, What the General Manager has' to say.on this subject may be summed up as an emphatic warning—a warning that unless railway improvements on ■ a ■ big scale are promptly put in hand and prosecuted with all possible energy, the Dominion will incur heavy penalties in the serious/congestion of railway traffic and generally in the retardation of national development. Mn. Hiley was brought out live years ago to effect needed improvements in, our railway system, and put it into a state to meet efficiently all demands. His recommendations to this end were made without loss of time, and in 191-1 provision was made. in the Railways Improvement Authorisation Act for a programme of works of ■ first-class importance, including the construction of up-to-date stations and yards in ; ' Wellington and other centres. The Act contemplated a heavy expenditure of loan money spread over a period of five, years, and had it been possible, to carry outthc programme the railway facilities of the Dominion would by this time have been very greatly extended and improved. Unfortunately the war enforced a postponement, and the position now is that Me. Hiley is about to terminate his engagement with the Department (at the end of the current financial year), when'only a few small items in his programme of improvements have been, carried out. He has rendered essential service to the Dominion, however, in clearly laying down the lines of railway improvement and development, and it is certainly necessary that the works he has planned should, as the Minister observes, ''be commenced as soon as it is practicable to obtain men and materials, and pushed on vigorously until finished." In his own report, however, the General Manager declares with all possible emphasis that the prosecution of the 1914 programme will not in itself enable the railways to meet demands satisfactorily in the years that lie immediately ahead. Ho refers with manifest uneasiness to the serious consequences of the unavoidable delay in carrying out the 1911 programme, and at the same time points Out that this programme was only a first step towards bringing the railways of the Dominion up to date and into a state of thorough efficiency.. His final pronouncement is that unless sanction is granted' for a second programme of improvements, to run concurrently with those planned in 1914, New Zealand railway facilities will be insufficicnt'to cope with the business offering in the near future. The pronouncement is somewhat staggering, but it is made with authority, and obviously the problems involved must be faced in their entirety. Railway transport has an all-important part to play in tho era of rapid development upon which we arc entering, and whatever difficulties stand in the way of giving the country the transport facilities it needs to support and aid its development must be overcome.