The Feilding Star. SATURDAY. JUNE 24, 1893. Railway Management

Feilding Star, 24 June 1893, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY. JUNE 24, 1893. Railway Management

\ The ruling passion of tho Premier in . to obtain control of the New Zealand railways. Only ono man has over complained of the managemont of the Commissioners, and that man ia the Honorable Richard Seddon, while not a word of objection has ever been beard from tbe farmers, the mercanr tile community, or tho general trarelHog public, who pay for them. With such a cloud of witnesses in their t favor, it is a wonder to us that so astute a personage as the Premier does not recognise the position, and sacrifice his own prejudices on the - altar of public opinion. We believe that the present Ministry have vow reached the apogee of their history ; they are undoubtedly the popular party with an overwhelming majority of the electors ; they have held the reins of office during a period of prosperity of the colony unequalled since its foundation ; in fine, they have had everything iv their favor. But such prosperity always engenders y overweening conceit, and that in its r; turn engenders a feeling of antag- £ oniem in the minds of independent thinkers. The spoech from the < Throne, delivered on Thursday last, » shows signs of that besetting sin. i The " particular vanity" of the Hon * Mr Seddon is, that he can manago the railways better than the Commissioner*. Members of Parliament were } told they would be asked to assent to a Bill restoring to the representatives 3 of the people (vi est Mr Seddon), a I C portion of the control which they formerly held over this important 1 possession of the nation. Now, we all know that Sir Harry Atkinson gave over the control of the railways t to the Commiasioaera in order to be 4 relieved of the constant pressure l which he found it impossible to resist. The Premier, the Honorable Mr Seddon, on the contrary, " wants to be pressed, " in order that he may exercise the enormous power of patronage which the management of the railways would give him. In order to support our views on this subject we quote from a pamphlet published by the Otago A. and P. Society, in May last. The Society issued circulars to residents in Otago, asking them to give ~ an opinion as to whether the manage- * ment of the Government railways f should be continued as at present, free from objectionable political influences, or go back to the old srstetn. The 8 Society published tho replies, which ' were to the following effect : — Ninety--1 one persons or firms voted for nonpolitical control, four persons gave vague replies, while not a solitary r vote wan given for the direct control by Parliament. Of the ninety-nine, sixty-three were farmers, station managers, gra2iers, etc, twenty-eight ( were manufacturers, merchants etc., . five were solicitors, and three were . members of Parliament. The four persons of cloudy mind were two farmers and two legialators. If a statesman like »Sir Harry Atkinson said he found it was almost impossible for a Ministry to resist pressure, assuredly it was absolutely so, and we hope that the House will refuse to pass any Railway Bill disturbing the existing B'atus «f the Commissioners.