THE REDUCED RAILWAY SERVICES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 245, 10 July 1919, Page 6

THE REDUCED RAILWAY SERVICES

A CANTERBURY SCHEME BUSINESS MEN'S COMMITTEE * TO REGULATE FREIGHT GENERAL MANAGER IS SYMPATHETIC The business community of Canterbury, along with all the industrial interests, including the Trades and Labour Council, have combined to make suggestions to the management of the New Zealand Railways for the lightening of the burden put upon the people of their I province by the reduction in railway I services, particularly, in respcct of the carriage of goods. The method followed by the Department N in reducing the goods traffic lias been to declare that certain goods are essential, and that others are not essential, and to determine that (ho former may be carried, and that the latter, may not. it is suggested by the Canterbury business men that this arrangement may be improved. They sny that in some instances traffic declared non-essential may in fact be more essential than the carriage of allegedly essential goods, and the proposal they make is that the Department accept the advice of a committee, they have appointed to regulate goods traffic, and soto .make the best possible of the i rains. They do not ask for Hhe running of more trains, except in one instance, to serve a big flourmill. They urge that at least one train per weekbe run on a branch line, from which all traffic has been taken, and this in-order that this big mill may go 'on working. This 'committee will issue priority permits for. ' offering for transit, and will give priority to those goods most urgently needed, giving preference for ttie most part to those goods now on the schedule of the Department as being essential.

Another proposal made by the committee is that use may be made of the coal deposits in the Canterbury district. These deposits are not of. good steam coal, but of fair quality lignite, useful for fuel in these limes of shortage. They say that they can find miners who are unwilling to work in the West Coast mines, but who will be quite willing to go to work in the lignite pits.

A deputation representing the Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Association, and tho Trades and Lnlwur Council of Christcliurcli. with the Christchurch members of Parliament, waited yesterday on the General Manager of Rpihrays dir. R. W. M'Villy) to make the proposal regarding the committee of advice, and also to ask that in order to provide temporary accommodation for the workers to go into the new lignite pits, the Department 'should lend a number of railway huts. Tho, requests were pressed strongly, but every speaker made it clear that the committee had not eonie with the inlenlion of criticising the Department in its present difficulty, hut if possible to assist. The members of the deputation were . Dr. Thacker, M.l'., Jfavor of Christchurch, Mr. G. Witiv, M.P.. Mr. L. M. Isitt, M.P., Mr. J. M'Combs. M.P., Mr. Robson, president of the,. Trades and Labour Council, Mr. P. 'Davidson, representing the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, Mr! J. A. I'rostick, and Mr. Jamieson. A Notable Exception. Mr.-M'Villy said he had listened with much interest to the proposition that had been put befor&"fhe Department. He hoped that the deputation would not expect an immediate reply, as he had only seen the proposals for a few minutes. He wished to 'thank the deputation for the kindly help they offered, and for the. spirit that had actuated them in coming forward to help the Department. He thought that ,it was the . first occasion in the whole of .-.his experience in the railways on-which the Railway Department had had a whols-hearted sympathetic offer of help from Ihe public and the business people. He wished to say that ho appreciated the offer of help. This being sb, he would look into the suggestions embodied in the programme from a sympathetic point of view, and with a desire to avail himself of the offer made. He would go into the mutter with his responsible officers, and even if the answer should in the end be unfavourable, he would give his issurance that this would not Jib for unsympathetic reasons. It- would not be because he did not appreciate the spirit in which they had approached the matter.

"The Railway Department," he said, "is up against a. very diliicult proposition, and you gentlemen recognise that. The greatest difficulty we have is, of course, to feed the people, and to carry on as far as we can tho various industries. As'a railway official,'l don't want to see unemployment in the country, and T recognise that the industrial lii'e cf the country is very closely bound up with railway traffic and railway facilities. I appreciated this fact in the very early stages of the difficulty with which we have been confronted. I made tho position of the .Department quite clear to representatives of the limber mills wlro waited upon ine. I expres-ed to them the very great regret the Department felt in having to refuse absolutely to carry timber, but that 1 lie coal situation' left us no alternative. I made a definite statement lo a gathering of business men in Wellington, in which I outlined the causes which led ip to the pro sent coal crisis, and the cut. in the railway time-table. During the jvhole of the war period the flail way Department has steadfastly used every possible effort to obtain coali, and to keep up pupplies, but owing to circumstances over which we had_ no control we were not. able to get sufficient coal fo meet consumption. Conseciiiently the heavy coal stocks we carried in 1013 have been eaten up. until flic other day when we made the cut in services we had only sufficient to run for fourteen days. In tho circumstances there was only one filing to be done—fo face the position and n ake the cut in services. Tt was a very disagreeable duty to the Departmental' officers. We knew we must inflict hardship on workers, and very great inconvenience on the business commuiiil.v generally. Defence of' Mr, Hiley, "In view of the Misunderstanding that appears to exist outside villi respect to the attitude of the .Railway Department, and-the position of the Railway Department in regard to coal, T want to assure you that from Ifllt right down'to the present time the Railway department has used every possible elt'ort tn obtain coal. And 1 want to stress the fact that since 1915 the Railway Department has been rationed with coal as lias every other industry, ami we have limh dependent for our supplies on the Munitions and Supplies Board. This is not generally understood. We had to reqjiisition (he Suppiies Board for our coal, and we did it regularly. There lias been complete co-operation between the Department and the Supplies Board. The Railway Department's orKanis-irion has been used in flic best possible way to obtain coal. It has happened oflen Unit for good and sufficient reasons coal allocated to the railways has had to be diverted to keep other industries going. Vhey made the shortage up to us when they could. J am not in any way reflecting on the Munitions and Supplies Board; they have had tlieir difficulties as we have had oure. But: I do feel .that if is _ np(.|\vc«n- for Wl . fo make the position clear in view of the statements Hint have been mndn that the Railway Department has been lacking in foresight, and flint f.'ie late General Manager lias not done this, that, or the next: tiling. I want lo say definitely and advisedly, as a man who rubbed shoulders Willi him evtrv day, ancj several hours every day. that I'rom the time that he arrived Zealand till lie left the conntrv. Mr. Il.ilev 'did his level best for the Railway Department. No man could have done more tn keep the trains running than Mr. TTiley did. And yet. directly the man leaves the country, he i= attacked. 1 am not going (o stand for it." Members of the deputation assured Mr. M'Villy that no such statements had been made in Christchurch. An Officer to Report, Mr, M'Villy promised the deputation

that ho would go fully into the requests made. Probably ho would'scud an officer down to Christcliureii to confer with them on the spot. There was just oim point that occurred to him in connection with the proposal. His experience with business people was that iliey objected to have other busing people knowing iheir business. lie look it that 110 such objection would be raised in this case. The deputation assured him that there would be no such objection, and urged that he send down the oflicer at once. Dr. Thack6r suggested "quick and lively." Mr. M'Villy said (hat the oflicer would be sent without delay. A REPLY TO CRITICS BY THE GENERAL MANAGER KO ONE'AT FAULT A statement on the coal situation with special reference to recent criticism of tiic Department was made by llr. li. M'Villy, General Manager of .Railways, yesterday. The statement follows: —

"On Thursday last, July 3, by invitation I attended a conference nf representatives of. various local bodies and chambers of commerce, held in Wellington, and placed before them a brcfad outline of the causes leading up to 'he inauguration of the curtailed time-table operating from July 2. As representative of responsible local bodies and business establishments the members of the conference were, on the ground of public interest. fully- entitled to the information they were seeking, and I endeavoured to place efore them, without any reservation, a clear and definite statement of tho actual facts of the case. From the reception given to my remarks it was clear that the conference grasped their .significance, and recognised that the curtailment of train service was inevitable, that it had been postponed as long as was prudent and practicable, and was only made operative when the Department. was driven by the diminished supply of coal to take the step in the best interests of the public.

Facts Recapitulated. ".Prefacing my remarks with a statement regarding the object of the restrictions I went on to say that in 1913 tiie Department had a icserve stock of 80,00(1 tons of coal built up over a period of years to enable the biisinesi of the Department to be carried on in emergencies. 1 explained that the approximate consu motion of hard coal per aununi was 250.000 tons, of which, roughly, 45 to IS per cent, had to be imported overseas from r.'ow South Wales, owing to the New Zealand mines not being able to supply all the railway requirements, and went on to show the conference how year by year, in consequence of inability to'obtain'supplier caused sometimes by reduction of shipping. somekmes by reduction of coal output, the reserve stock had been eaten into, until it had leached a. point where le stock was onH. equal to fourteen days' consumption, while the supplies in sight up to the middlo ot August, viz., WOO lons, were not MilhC'ont to carry the Department over an'otlier fortnight. I stressed the tom : that the management, with a lull ana keen realisation of its responsibilities to the country in respect to the transportation of its commerce, exhausted evflrv legitimate moms within its power to obtain such a supply of coal as was required to maintain the full ordmaij services.

No Fault of the Management, . "I rcret to notice evidence of a disposition" to misconstrue this statement into a reflection noon the management of the Department past and present. Al\ figures showing the position of the coal stocks, prim to the. war, are contrasted with the present position, and the conclusion is drawn that, thoj llffc J e e ll amounts to a charge ot 1 " e Pi lt y° T 8 ) " n '"I l: the interim management oi tho Depart ment. Nothing could be more unfair. Prior to 1913 the Departments reseno «tock was built up under normal eoi.ditions Up to that time the Departmmt was a free agent in respect i kr the filiation of its coal supplies, lho fact that such a stock --was accumulated in 1913, under such conditions, was incident of prudent management. But K it °hm.W nof o' mind anyone how fundameiiU ll theo conditions have changed. &mt 1.1 - » arid abroad' has been materially Shim Wa'been diverted from ordnmrs been withdiwvn irm industries to_ serve with the colours. Epidemic sickn&» has ravL I' the country, and taken its toll If tho ranks of the workers. T.ie output of coal' from local mines has decreased by three-quarters of a tO^SkTn m ihe top of those condiIS output of our own mines was njt iiisisif and'allocation of. all „n,l for the Dominion; and the suppm-" C the 1 aTlwav Department, in common with other industries, came automat callv under its control. ' lh %the : liai'tment has taken care to /keep Uie 1 <>vA fnllv 'LonrUed, wcolc by the state' of the .Department's stocks and and L in add.hon by the to obtain both coal and XV <o arranged would'l>e sul.ject tot board's allocation, and might be. an.l i>i HSBT% S& S « eidmfion of ilw foiv?gohig. tliflt JJ.c strictures'upon the management of the Department for failing to look ahead were based upon incorrect or ineo:nipleto information. This applies'eqiiall} to iwsprtion that the management, with the War Regulations behind-it, had th nower if it chose to apnly it, to comniaiideer ltotli vessels am eoal min s n oi'dnr to obtain its supplies, rhe man apement bad no such power, with without the AVar Regulation,.

Warning to the Public. "The further suggestion that Ml" warning should have been K"" 1 .' j nnUlie of the curtailment of the train Mii made without due consideration of the .civcnmslanM>. i>' - were manv occasions, since th- c<v.i savin" time-table of 1917. when tlie Den'artment.'s coal stocks were, in a critical condition, but such supplies uere 11 si"ht at these times as justified e^P' o " tation of the Department >emgable to maintain the "ormnl On eac of Ibe-e occasions until the u.-_ -t ci » Khnt expectation was l j, f n -, o t reasonably lie contended that ho De partment would have been jusl fied on each of those occasions in. t " Gal n " l =,, " feeling of fllann in Hie minds of e commercial and general public of the Dominion, by issuing warnings of» nont* <l.ra?'tic reductions in tno facilities, which were rabsermently ovulated for the lime tang. to. have adopted the policy of ervi'.ig '.voH v-onld verv soon have brought, upon lie management the condemnation of alt classes of the community. ,

Unreasonable Critics. "During the war period all sections of the community appreciated the difficulties with which every business establishment was confronted in regard to maintaining stocks to simply Hie requirements of customers. Kveii to-day the considered statement of the heart of a business firm. or for that matter the statement of one of his employees to the effect that orders for goods desired V his customers had been placed with manufacturer?; who, however, could not fulfil the order owing to war-'conditions, shortage of labour, or of shipping, is accepted as a satisfactory explanation of the r.ctilal position by customers and shareholders alike. No one thinks, in such circumstances, of levelling a -diargc of ibiii-inc.ss ineptitude at the head of the firm; vet, when the responsible bend of the largest Government commercial undertaking in the Dominion-I lie Now Zealand railways—makes a fully considered statement of the facts, and outlined some of tho difficulties that tho Railway Department has been contending

against during the war period in its efforts to obtain and maintain coal supplies sufficient to carry on the essential train services, statement;* implying ineptTTfiue, want. of foresight, and inefficiency of management, are levelled at the retiring General ..Manager-after lie has /eft the Dominion and cannot reply to the attacks-and at officers who have served under Liberal, lieform, and National Ministries in turn. As a matter ot fact, Hie maintenance cf coal Mocks was a constant smifce of anxiety lo Mr. Hiley, and his officers, and it will be .seen that the position that lias arisen is duo enlirelv to circumstances over which neither the Minister of Railways, the late General Manager. Mr. Hiley, myself, nor other Departmental officers have the <1 Hi test control. Notwithstanding the fact that the railway coal supply was controlled bv the Munitions and Supplies 80-ml, Mr.' Tlilov never, at any time, during the last three years, relaxed his' elf oris to obtain coal to maintain tram services, and as the officer who was daily closely associated with him in dealing with difficult problems under trying conditions, I lake a full share of the responsibilitv, and sav that it was humanly impossible to do more than has been done to keep the trains running. A Fair Share. "I wish it to be definitely understood tlr.il: nothing in this statement is intended in anv way lo reflect, or throw discredit upon the efforts of the rival Trade Board in their allocation t.-f Ihe available supplies of eon I. They have doubtless had difficulties of their own to contend with. It will be remembered that charges were made right un to the date rf the curtailed time-table that the Railway Department was obtaining more than its due share of coal, and that the rest, of .the community was beiivj penalised in consequence. Since the cut time-table was brought, in the Denarlmfnt is charged with bavin? culpably iie;:l-?ct?d to lay in sufficient stocks. The foregoing statement should show to any impartial person that there is just as little foundation for the one charge r.s there is for the other."

WAIRARAPA NEEDS MORE ; GOODS TRAFFIC REDUCTION OF PASSENGERS 'A deputation from Wairarapa met the General Manager of Railways \ esterday to discuss possible improvements in tiie railway services at present provided. The most important request of ihe deputation was that if more trains could not be given, some passenger traKiu should be cut out, and that the haulage released should be used tor the carriage of j,uods. The deputation was introduced by Mr. G. K. Sykes.'M.P., and the members of it were .Messrs. J* M- Coiadine, J. C. Cooper. J. Caselfcerg, and Campbell. Mr. Sykcs said that it was I lieu- pnrposo to assist rather than to criticise. He realised that the Department was in difficulties, and they must make the ;ji-st of a bad job. Mr. Coradino said that it was suggested that some, of the traffic considered essential by the Department should he cut down.' His opinion was that, lucre could be a big reduction in passenger traffic, in order to make tlio carrhigu of goods possible. Mr. Cooper said that it was leared that next export seiV'Oit there would oe a great shortage of shipping, and for this reason every effort should bo made to get lid of as much produce, as possib.o this year. He mentioned particularly pelts and tallow, which were not now considered lo be essential. Frozen meat was carried, but the ship 3 could not be filled .without some general cargo, such as hides and tallow. ■ Mr. Casolhqrc asked for tho restoration of a Erain to Greytown. x ' Mr. Campbell agreed with the proposal that pAssengcr traffic should be restricted in favour of goods. Passenger traffic could go by tho roads, but owing to tho fact that the bridges on the Wairarapa mountain road were not strong enough to curry loads of more than two* tuns, 1.0 goods could ba carried iuto Wairarapa by road. ' , ~ , Mr. Sykes ma.de a request that an exception in favour of cement be made to Masterton. where a new sewerage system was being made. Unless the c-meiu wtre made availablo the works would be held un. It was most important, that the work should be pushed ahead, for the Public Health Department •had. directed that it should be done. Jlo. asked also that bran and pollard be tarried, being required for poultry feeding. Ho gave it as his opinion that <.n at least some of the trains to the Wairarapa there was mere passenger accommodation provided than there was need for, and suggested that if some of the passenger coacnes were taken off • tho trains, more goods might bt carried, Mr. M'Villy said that ho would not be averso to tho substitution of goods traffic for passenger traffic provided no • more trains and 110 more haulage were required. But. tho experience of the De. partment had gone to show that passengers we.ro not ready i-> submit ro the inconveniences imposed upon them. In fact there had been considerable public, clamour gainst tlio disabilities imposed on passengers. They wanted to travel as fast as'when there was lots of coal to burn. From no other district had representations been made in favour of tiie carriage of goods traffic to tho exclusion of passengers. Regarding the request that bran and pollard siienid be accepted for carriage, these goods were /cceptal and carried now under the heading of stock food. As to cement, ho could give no relief at present, hut if they would make representations later he might lie able to do something for them. He c.uld not agree to the carriage of pells end talloiv from Masterton while there wert stocks in store awaiting shipment in Wellington. But' he would give Iheassurance that if Fne goods were required to fill ships he would see that tlioy were brought to "Wellington. He held that it was not reasonable to ask the i)->part-ment to burn coal in the lraulage. of cargo from Masterton when the.-e was sufficient of the same class of cargo alroadv here to fill, all th? shipping space. He "was afraid there was 110 chance of restoring the trains to Greytown. rfe was already considering a request that had hcen 'made for the restoration of trains to Greytown, but, lie was afraid that his answer would have to continue to lie "'So." A'» to ilie substitution of goods traffic for passenger, he would look into the proposal and see what, l; entailed. If haulage could lie saved by taking off p'assenger accommodation', more goods would be carried.

LABOUR PROTESTS THE POSrTTON Of THE GOVERNMENT. Protests against the cut ill railway services were made by Mr. ,L'. fraser, M.P., speaking for a Labour depiivaiion which waited 011 Ministers yesterday. Mr. fraser said that the restrictions pressed very hard on tiie poorer section of the people, who could not aft'ord to spend the time in travelling that was required in the present train services. Nor could they afford lo pay tlio cost of tiie hotel bills' caused by broken, journeys. They could not alt'orcl to pay tho fares demanded for-' travel in motors. Tho whole situation was very serious, and tho country had been landed in a most deplorable condition. No doubt Cabinet had given the matter the fullest consideration, but it was urged that as soon as it was humanly possible the trains should bo restored. The Acting-Prime Minister, replying, said that lie was not Minister ot Bailways but tlicy could readily understand that 'the Government would not havo imposed the present restrictions on railway running without the gravest reasons. They had certainly not done it tor pleasure. Ministers know that it must impose hardship 011 the community, am it was only at the last moment, when it was considered absolutely e.-sentnil ihat the Government accepted the adyice ot the Minister of Kailways. .All Ministers were committed to the decision, because it had been made by Cabinet. II the cut had not been made, in a tew weeks time there would have been 110 trams at all running. What could the Government do under those circumstances? The Hon. W. 11. llerries (Mini.-tcr of llailways) tniil that this position had been toraseeu lot- the past !wo years. The Government had 'done all 11 cuuld to "c't coal, but had never been aide to collect stocks. The search for coal had not been the work of amateurs, for Hie production and distribution of .oal had

been tho concern of the Minister of Munitions, an able business man, and a board of very competent business men. The Bailway Department hud been rationed with coal, taking its share like any other customer, but the supply had not been sufficient to so round. The immediate cause of I lie present crisis had been the strike in Australia, preceded by the epidemic in Australia. Gut for the strike, making it impossible to get coal from Australia, the railway? could have been kept running. Jn actual fact tile railways never had bceu able to got. much local coal during the winter months, and supplies for these months had to be obtained from Australia. The cut had to be made, and he cuuid assure the deputation that it had not been mado for fun. As to how the cut ought to be made that was a question for experts, and he must be guided on such a matter by his expert officers. Tile aim was to reduce coal consumption by about one half. When the time came for extension, he thought most people would demand that the goods restrictions should be released before any mors provision was made for. MBsenser traffic.