The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1885. Private Sidings

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 28, 15 August 1885, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1885. Private Sidings

"We congratulate Mr Maoarthtjb on the promptitude he has displayed in his place in the House in bringing the new objectionable by-law, dated July 16th, anent private sidings — to which reference was made by us a few days ago — before members by asking the Minister for Public Works whether he would so far reconsider the regulations referred to, so as to exempt existing sidings from their operation. With that charming ambiguity for which Ministers are remarkable. Mr Richardson is reported to have replied that if it was found necessary to alter the regulations, steps would be taken to do so. We are very glad that the member for Manawatu has taken the matter in hand, for that is almost a sufficient guarantee that the Minister "will find it necessary" to cancel the said by-law- But in order "to make assurance doubly sure," we would suggest to the local sawmill owners the propriety— nay the urgent need — of meeting together at once in order to pass such resolutions as will strengthen the hands of Mr Maoarthub and give weight to whatever he may Urge in the required direction. We are aware thai such a meeting has been contemplated but no time has as yet been fixed when it shall be held. Mr Eichabdsok is also reported' to have said that a great many sidings had been erected without authority and were a source of danger. We have always held the opinion that the Minister for Public Works was more hopelessly in the dark as to the business of his department than any of the other holders, of portfolios, but we had no idea that we should ever get such a confirmation of it from the lips of the Minister himself. We may state at once that no siding — under any circumstances whatever — is put in without a favorable report from a District Manager, a District Engineer, General Manager of Railways, (Mr Maxwell), and the consent of the Minister of Public Works for the time, being. There may be a few more officials who have to be consulted, but certainly no less. If any person were to be mad enough to commence putting down a siding, or even to lift a holt from a sleeper without proper legal authority, all sorts of pains and penalties would be inflicted on him under existing bylaws and enactments. There can be little doubt that the Minister is intentionally kept ignorant by the General Manager of Railways of a great many things the Minister ought to know, and it is only when light is thrown on an abuse by the Press that he begins to learn for himself of the special causes of the remarkable unpopularity of the system of railway

management which now obtains. "We have no doubt, if all the correspondence which has taken place during the past year or two on the Napier side, between Mr Maxwell and persons applying for private sidings, were published with all that has been said by the Napier Press, much internal evidence would be found to explain why the General Manager prompted the Minister to issue such a tyranical regulation. We should not be surprised to learn that private pique has had far more to do with it, than a desire to promote the welfare of the people whose servant he is. We have not the slightest doubt but what he will one day be taught that the colony can dispense with his services, and we are convinced the sooner that

times comes the better for all concerned. In a free democratic country autocratic officials ought not to be permitted to exist.