POLI-PARALYSIS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 135, 4 December 1929, Page 13

POLI-PARALYSIS

A RAILWAY DISEASE

SO EASY TO DIAGNOSE

YET SO HARD TO CURE

The harbour was there before -. the railway came. The railway did not force itself upon you. " You clamoured for it and were successful. There would be some clamour if it was taken up. Spendyour money on roads and harbour has triplicated means of transport, ; and now. you say to the Depart- ,- meat: "You must make tho rail-• ..ways pay!" Thus spoke tho General Manager of Railways, Mr. E. H. Sterling, to the people of North Auckland, as reported in "The Northern Advocate." The speech was made at au entertainment given in the North to the Commerce Train. "I believe," continued Mr. Sterling, "that the railways are paying and will continue to do so." INVISIBLE TO THE ACCOUNTANT. It will be remembered that Mr. Sterling has made the point, and has since emphasised it, that the railways profit Pnd loss account does not reflect the full return to the country from the service that the railways perform. -•■ Farming or some other industry receives from the railways a service for •whichit does not pay, or does not completely pay. The difference between the service and the payment is a' subSidy to the industry. The Department of Railways pays that subsidy. But the Department is not credited with Jhaving paid such subsidy. So the profit and loss account is short on tho credit side by the amount of such uii«onsidered trifles. So when the General Manager expresses the belief that the railways are paying, he cannot be answered out of an incomplete account; nor, oven if a loss wero correctly ascertained, could the Department of Railways 'bo held responsible for. a result that is to a Jarge extent pre-deterniined by a policy that, in origin and in colour, is political and not commercial. THAT TENDENCY TO TRIPLETS. Tor instance, triplication of transJort^—rail, load, water—is the work of politicians yielding to public pressure, it is not the Tesult of an economic "tansport policy, and certainly not tho ivork of the Department of Eailways. |M>. Sterling does not venture to express an opinion in triplication, but \e washes his hands of it, as follows:— "Ton have the best harbours in New Zealand—indeed^ in tho world—and you are going on with the expenditure of money in connection with those harlrours. The expenditure of that money as your own business, but it invites reflection on the railway problem that exists to-day ... I believe that the railways will pay North Auckland people handsomely if for no other reason than that they are a safeguard pgainst high transport costs. They have don© much for you in-this direction already by providing competition in the carriage of freight and passengers. MISSING CREDITS. "As I have listened to speakers' enthusiasm about roading and settlement, 1 could not help asking myself, 'Why do they want the railway and why was it built?' The answer is simply that tl)8 iPppplo.of the. North wanted their transport charges reduced. I believe that the railways have- been a factor in Reducing the working costs of farmers, laid — I do not hesitate to say that if the benefits derived from railways uould be shown in the balance-sheet there would be no more of this talk of making the railways pay! You get all the details of the expenditure side, but no credit is given for the service, direct and indirect, which should be set on the other side of the balance-sheet. I hope we will be able to make the railways what we want them to be. A child must crawl before it can walk and walk before it can run, otherwise it will get a broken bone. The same thing obtains in regard to the railways. "You are getting as good value for the. money spent on your railways as is being given in any part of the world. Where there is a demand it is •well met. Carriages on our best services compare with any in the world when the amount of money available for expenditure on them is taken into consideration. Our claims for eoniyensation for accidents arc the lowest in the world, which speaks for our policy of 'safety first.' I have the temerity to believe that in the railway Btaffi wo have a body of men who compare favourably with those found anywhere. They are imbued with spirit of service and are determined to upJiold *the best traditions of the railway services of the world. The railways have been'the keynote to the development of New. Zealand and they will continue to unlock the latent greatness of the country."

;the board behind the board. At the same gathering Mr. A. G. Xunn, of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, rsminded the people of New Zealand that they are shareholders in. the biggest industrial undertaking in the Dominion, capitalised at 50 millions—that is, the railways. The board of directors was the railways permanent heads. "Unfortunately, there was another board of directors, elected every three years, who tried to impose their will on the practical directors. 'If anyone itsxn come in and interfere •with a board of directors,' said Mr. Lunn, •that bonrd cannot lie held responsible for the welfare of the business.' As an illustration of how political influence conflicted with business principles, Mr. Lunn referred to the railway line from, Okaihau to Eangiahua, p, length of 12 miles. Why it. h.ad been laid down nobody knew. There was a. sense of 'up in the air-ism' about it. If the General Manager had the light, he would say 'this is one of the ifirst things I would stop.' However, there were other influences which \youJd not allow him to do this. If public money could ba wasted on that ■lirie, it was possible fer waste to take place on. other lines. It was only •when the railways were controlled absolutely by business .men untramelled ~hy political influences that they could Tie made a success. The country could not do without the railways, and tho sooner they were conducted in a strict business manner the better. This Bhonld be brought about with the least possible delay."