The Globe. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1874.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 147, 23 November 1874, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1874.

It is to be hoped that the newly appointed traffic manager for the Canterbury "Railways is a gentleman of energy, and also that lie is not easily daunted, for judging from the complaints which are heard on all sides, he has a formidable task before him, in getting into decent working order the department over which be is called on to preside

Every single department connected with the railways in Canterbury seems to have been allowed to fall into a hopeless slate of muddle, and this seems to have arisen from a compound of incapacity, red - tapi«m, and jealousy, amongst those officials who have had the management of the various line* now beinjz worked. There is never so much smoke, as is at present arising, without some fire, and the numerous complaints and grievances which members of the public daily send accounts of to the various journals in the province, cannot all have their origin in imagination. In this morning's issue of The Press we notice two letters both harping on the same theme, and one of the complainants draws attention to a fact, which is well known by sad experience to all who have the misfortune to travel on the Canterbu>y lines —viz, the excessive coolness and indifference of station masters, and others in authority, to any remonstances that may be used towards them. The difficulty of obtaining any information at any of the various stations is simply disgraceful, and travellers on the lines appear to treated all round as a nuisance to be pot rid of as quickly as possible, or effectually snubbed by those gentlemen who under the present regime are dressed in a little brief authority. But it is not only the travelling public who utter complaints concerning the present railway management. The employes themselves have their grievances, anrl if they do not appear so often in the daily papers, thin may be partially explained by the fact that n man who may have, and probably lias, a wife and family dependant on him, does not wish to do anything which will subject him to the chance of being dismissed from his employment, at the first chance that may occur to his indignant superior. Though the complaints of those who are working on the railway are not brought so prominently before the public, yet there can be no doubt but that they are beginning to be heard by the general population. First amonc these grievances appears to be the difficulty of obtaining tln-ir wages on the proper days for payment, and the blame is usually put down to that light-hearted official, the Auditor. Any remonstrances addressed to this gentleman, glide off him like water from a duck's back, and he appears to be under the impression that the duties of his office are filled in the most satisfactory manner. He will explain the forms that have to be gone through before any order for payment can be issued, in the most cheerful manner, to any poor wretch who merely wants his fortnightly wages, and who is not in the least interested in the description of the various red tape forms, which it is necessary to go through before he can obtain the, to him, important sum of money due to him. For ourselves, we are utterly at a loss to understand why it is that there should be any more difficulty in paying a number of men, merely because they are employed by Government, than is the case when, the same number are employed by private firms. We make bold to say that three times the number of officials and laborers that are employed in the Canterbury Kail ways, are paid weekly by many a firm in England and Scotland, and that without one-tenth part of the delay and trouble that occurs on the occasion of a fortnightly payment here. We trust that the matter will be looked into shortly, or we are convinced that the Government will hear of it again, in a manner which will not give the population of the other portions of the colony a very great idea of the way in which the richest province of New Zealand pays those who work for it.