The Dominion. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14,1919. LEEWAY ON THE RAILWAYS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 16, 14 October 1919, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14,1919. LEEWAY ON THE RAILWAYS

Next year's Railways Statement ought to be witch more informative than the one that was laid before Parliament on Friday night. Apart from the serious restrictions imposed on railroad transport since the latest date to which the latter document refers, it is difficult at present, and for obvious reasons, to form any vei'y definite opinion as to how the railways stand, financially and in some other ways. During the later war years a considerable, increase in earnings and in the amount and rate of profit on invested capital was largely offset by the fact that not a little expenditure which would 'have been made in normal years on maintenance' and upkeep was of necessity withheld owing to the shortage of labour and of difficulty of obtaining materials from.abroad. The inflation of money and the,general rise in prices and wages have also, of course, affected the results of vailway working, and one of the most serious factors of all is the high price of coal and the difficulty of obtaining adequate supplies. As yet the operation of these various factors is little modified, but the full extent of the change that has occurred will appear only when tbe railwavs management is able tn obtain all the labour and material it needs and to run the fullest services its working enuipnient, will permit. Until this position is reached such figures as have been presented for the year which ended on MaHi 31 Inst can tell at most onlv half the stor.v. As compared with the last complete pre-war year, the gross earnings have increased from £4.043,328 to £4.988,632—an increase of nearly a million sterling. The percentage of profit to. invested has increased from 3.61 per cent, in IS)'3-14 to 4.65 per cent, in 1918-19. But it has to be borne in mind that 1913-14 was a bad. railwavs comparatively speaking, owing to the strike and ty smallpox epidemic. . What results will he, shown in normal .operations under the new conditions established has yet to appear. The one point clearly made in the Statement is' tKat_ the development of the railways is in arrears to such. an extent that very serious loss and trouble to the country will Vesult unless extraordinary efforts are made to make up for lost time. It is, as the Minister "unfortunate that prevailing circumstances have precluded the vigorous scheme of improvements outlined in 1914," and all will agree with him as to the imperative of putting this scheme of improvements in hand and pushing it vigorously to completion. It will be remembered that in .1914 Mil. Hi ley. then newly appointed as General Manager, outlined a. scheme of improvements to cost £3,250,000 and to be carried out in fiv years. Up-to-date stations in Wellington and other centres were amongst the. items. Hardly any of these improvements have been carried ont: not one of the larger items has been touched. Sneaking at a, farewell {fathering at the fnd of lastMay, Mr. H'lev said that the, 19VI programme should have been completed ere that time and another larger program'"". embanked u"on. So sure as an "thin" could bo, TOW Z n ala,nd would en through a'iperiod of rapid expansion, and Hie raU-wn.'-s had "0 ma,rein t n deal v'Hi additional business. His fu rf W oliFcrvMnns are worth reen.llipq' now that the. ti"«v for action is verv near at hand;

In addition to the 19U prostrammo many tilings wero necessary if the railways itare not to lie allowed to liecome more out of date and more unable to deal with the business to offer. Take the Wollinffton-Johnsonville-rnekakariki liiie as an example—that line should liover bo allowed to remain as part of the main line with its present grades. Duplications would have to ba made in tbe neighbourhood of the chief centres to make possible the separation of suburban and main line traffic. The suburban linos would have to be electrified to make possible tiie rapid carriage of pesscngers in comfort through tunnels. The Rinuitaka route was an absolute anachronism. It was impossible for the' Jlfprlrtiuent to carry tho traffic offering f">m Jlawko's Bay and the Wairnrapa on thnt line, with its grade of one in fourteen with curves. . . . There were shortage a)so of modern engines and cflvf. nnd theso must be obtained. Perhaps most important' of all was a policy of bridge strengthening, to provide bridges that would carry modern engines.

A very big outlay within a' comparatively limited period is no doubt entailed in carrying out such a programme as' Mr. Hi ley sketched on various occaaions. It is evident, however, that a loss very much greater than this outlay would be the penalty imposed on failure to carry out the nrogramme'. After the experience of the late railway "cut" and its effects on industry and in other ways tho people of this country" must he very clearly aware that. it. would ly> disastrous folly to allow the railways to fnli into such a state that they would be unable, perhaps for years, to fullv meet transport, demands. As Minister of Railways, Mr. Massby has declared himself fully aware of the necessity of vigorously forwarding an improvement scheme, and he has said that the CV>vern-, mcnt is appropriating a very large sum of money this year for railway improvements. . In view of the "urgent importance, of the question, however', more explicit; than he has yet. given would be welcome. When he, spoke to a South Island deputation the other day, for instance, he said that the great difficulty in connection with railway improvements was labour—he thought that the Dominion could now do with many more men than it had at present. In due course, therefore, a schemc of immigration would have to be -put into operation, but this could not be done rieht What exactly the last phrase is intended to convey is not clear. Ordinary enterprise and a due regard, for national nmls outrht, to impel the Government to make nromntlv s»e!i nrrnngements as will enable it to introduce suitable immigrants after repatriation has been complcUd and as soon as shipping an.l conditions will permit. Apart from, forming such nlans as would enable it to 'iet lari'e bo lies of men to work as soon is they are Mailable, it onpbf,. for instance, to detail a special no'doubt, a suitable man could b n eel*cted from the High Pnmmi--( sinner's staff—to set into r|n<-e touch with the authorities terincr tbe scheme under whi"h Mm British Government is to assist tlm emigration of ex-Servicc men. and their families. Neither the immin-

oncc of a general election nor any other reason can justly be advanced as itn excuse for delaying action on these lines. If the Dominion is to profit by its opportunities it must secure additional labour, not only for essential railway improvements, but for public works annc'rally, housing, and industries.' The Government should at once take such preliminary steps as arc possible towards securing at lenst a proportion of the labour that is remnrcd by immigration from Great Britain.