RAILWAY IMPROVEMENT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 15, 13 October 1919, Page 4

RAILWAY IMPROVEMENT

MR. lIILIiY'S RECOMMENDATIONS,

A report by the late General Manager of Railways (Mr. E. 11. Jtiley), attached to the Railways Statement, makes some references to railway improvement, "The amount expended during the year in cottlieet'on with works authorised by the Railway Improvement Authorisation Act, 1914, and charged to capital account was ■£79,875," says the report. "In my spet-iaC report of 1914 I definitely stated that tho works included in the eclieiuo of improvements outlined therein were urgently necessary to enable the requirements of the railyway business to bo dealt with satisfactorily, and for that reason it was most desirable that they should bo put in hand and completed within five years. ' "Since 1914 the revenuo has increased by -£915,000, or nearly 20 per cent., and there is every indication that a further material increase will Mlow the cessation of hostilities and closer settlement of the land. The Department has been confronted with very great difficulties during the war period in providing for tho business it has been ■ called upon to hr.ndle. No one acquainted with the. inadequacy of the facilities at the disposal of the Department for handling the /business can fail to realise difficulties of the past and present, and the serious position that will inevitably arise immediately the normal pre-war time-lable is established and the restrictions to traffic deliberately imposed (is war measures are removed. "During the past ten years the revenue has increased by ,£1,710,000. It is reasonable to conclude this rato of increase will be maintained. In 1924, therefore, which wjl! be thp earliest date that the completion of the 1914 programme can be made, the Department will find itself in the position of having to deal with a liusineas producing a revenue of .£7,000,000, with equipment that was inadequate for meeting n business yielding a revenue of ,£4,000,000 per annum. It is apparent that serious congestion, if not complete disorganisation of business, wM inevitably result, with the accompaniment of grave complaints from tho business community generally. ■ "Having regard to the important issues involved, I feel constrained, therefore, to urge most strongly that no time bo lost in putting in hand and pushing on vigorously to completion tho scheme of improvement outlined in my report of 1914." '