The Fielding Star. TUESDAY,APRIL 15,1884. Railway Matters

Feilding Star, Volume V, Issue 44, 15 April 1884, Page 2

The Fielding Star. TUESDAY,APRIL 15,1884. Railway Matters

In connection with the agitation now going on in the South with regard to the grain rates of the railway we notice after all the fuss made that the said agitation is only produced by a very few persons who are directly in terested in the grain trade. The interest which was at first taken in the subject has already began. to wane, so much so indeed, that the Canterbury Times finds it necessary to call on the "whole country*' to join "as one man " in carrying out a scheme to keep alive the agitation. We presume the "whole country" in this instance means Canterbury. The usual cry for non-political management of the New Zealand railways is again heard in the land, and for ourselves we are of opinion that until such a system of management is adopted, even partial satisfaction to the producers ef grain and produce can never be hoped for. Yet we do not think the time has arrived for any such violent charge, nor do we think we have the men competent to act as a Board of Management, whose services could be made available. We have numbers of shrewd capitalists who, as directors of companies, have made their mark in the colony, but it does not follow that these /would consent to sit as paid members of a board, or if they did that their services would be desirable. Commercial morality is strained to its utmost in these days of excessive trade competition, and it is not impossible that after a few years* a Board of Management might be resolved into a ring of capitalists vbo " lined" their own pickets at the expense of the colony at large, If the members, of themselves, were not monied men, yet the influence of the wire pulling capitalists might easily be brought to bear to give a seat at the board, and to secure its continuance to a complacent member, old and timeserving politicans wjuld, after the manner of their k ml, 1,«.k upon such seats and the i.Ciuia\)s.xiying salary, as the natural provision, and a haven of refuge, of their declining years. Experience of the past has, or ought to have, taught us that it is the "hope of reward whith sweetens the labor " of voting with the Government. Although the Board might apparent/ be free from control of the Ministry, yet, from the peculiar constitution of the finance and audit, it is impossible to dis-sever tie one from the other without falling into risks impossible even to imagine. One way to settle or at least partially remove the difficulty, would be to extend the discretionary powers of District Managers and permit them to regulate charges on goods, grain, and passengers according to the circumstances of their locality or district*. If | this course were adopted experimentally on isolated lines for a time, we believe the result would be satisfactory. -