RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2368, 8 December 1908, Page 5

RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION

NEED FOR REORGANISATION.

A MINISTERIAL JOURNAL’S VIEWS.

The “Lyttelton Times,’ 5 discussing the suggestion that the Hon. J. A. Millar should, take over the porfoCio of railways, makes some admissions as to the present administration tlK.it it would hardly have made three weeks ago. “Mr Millar, 55 it says, “has .ability of no mtvm order. He is energetic, keen, and courageous, and courage and commonsense anuoar to ns to be the qualities most urgently needed at the present juncture. The railways, we fear, have got a little out of hand. Sir Joseph Ward, before he became Premier, had far too much work to do to enable him to give the great department his close personal supervision, and the Hon. W. Half-Jones was, of course, a sick man. when he took over the charge of the lines. Of late the Ministerial supervision has been some whit perfunctory, and the administration has been deft almost entirely to the permanent officers. There is not wanting evidence, moreover, that the permanent officers are conservative and unenterprising. The long controversy over the Lyttelton intes has provided numerous illustrations of inefficient administration, and. there is no section of line in the Dominion that does not reveal similar instances of managerial weakness. We believe that the railways, efficiently managed, wouHd pay hxnHomely. They have to .bo supported now by an annual contribution of £IOO.OOO or so from the consolidated fund. Considering the rapid development of the country they ought to be not merely earning full interest oil the capital cost, but even returning a handsome amount- to the general revenue, and this result could be achieved, we have no doubt, without increasing the rates by a fraction of a penny, and without prejudicing in uny way the interests of the community. Indeed, it is by consulting the convenience of the public, by exercising strict economy on lines that are little used, and by demanding a higher degree of efficiency from the executive officers, that the department would be made to pay its way. The general mmiager has been long in office, and we arcafraid that the work has outgrown his capacity. A younger man, with firstclass experience, should be engaged from abroad to reorganise the department, and an appointment of this kind would prove immediately remunerative. The task before the new Minister, therefore, demands courage before everything else, and it also demands conscientiousness and shrewd judgment. If Mr Millar is appointed to the position, he must be given a free hand to undertake the reorganisation that is so obviously needed.’'

RAILWAY SERVANTS’ DEMANDS

A NEWSPAPER CRITICISM

[Special to “Times.”]

WELLINGTON, Dec. 7

Referring to the recently refused demands oi the Amalgamated Society of Rahway Servants, whch, if granted, would let the colony in for another £BO,OOO per annum, the -'Post" says:—-“It is unfortunate that the request should come at a :'i..e when the genen.nl administration of the Railway Department is the subject of severe criticism, and when id be attention has been keenly r 'reeled to the allegations of railway extravagance and the admissions of railway losses. During the recent elections the management of the railways was a staple topic in the addresses of a number of candidates, and since the result of the election was the moderate success of Oiiposition and of Independent candidates, at the expense of the Government, it may be .assumed that the public did «.ot lend a disbelieving ear to Opposition and Independent criticism. . On general grounds, therefore, this may be held «s 'an inappropriate season at which to urgo claims which w ould in ; oJve, as the Minister for Railways is represented as declaring, a new and heavy liability upon a Department which finds the annual, revenue insufficient to meet its liabilities. Despite tlio fashion in which the blender and the Minister for Railways have met and replied to the charges of maladministration levelled against the Department, there have not teen wanting signs to show that the very serious weight of tlio charges has made an impression upon the - Mil isiry, and that a more particular ovo wild be directed to expenditure in future. The astonishing fa.t, to which (attention was lirst cJiavu by Mr. Vaile, of Auckland, that a considerable decrease in the traffic carried last year upon the lire uradii luff section was -accompanied by. a considerable increase in. the numr er of traffic and-other employees on the same system, tlio fact that G.e .ratio of railway expenses to earnings was last year tlio highest on record, and the fact that Australian mil ways, with a much lesser proportionate 'canting, show a much greater proportionate return, those facts, to say nothing of others tending in the same direction, are quite sufficient to make the finest sanguine or the most easy-going Minister consider seriously the necessity of setting his Department in order. Consequently the railway emp’oyees, in asking for a further .reduction o’f hour's and a further increase of pay in some branches, cannot be surprised that tlio Minister has retau’ueu aw adverse replay’