The Hastings Standard Published Daily. TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1896. THE MANAWATU RAILWAY.

Hastings Standard, Issue 97, 18 August 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1896. THE MANAWATU RAILWAY.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The purchase of the WellingtonManawatu Railway by the State is a subject that has cropped up each session during the past few years, and although it is a thing greatly desired, its consummation is as far off as possible. This privately-owned railway is fed by two important lines of State railway; it is paying its way, but in doing so it is serving the public interest only to the extent that will allow it to prove remunerative to the shareholders of the company. The Manawatu Railway is run on business methods for business purposes, and it is impossible to find fault with the company on that account; yet the public cannot be expected to longer tolerate the present abominably slow sen-ice. The journey by rail from Hastings to Wellington or Hawera to Wellington is one prolonged misery. On the Manawatu line the tediousness of the journey becomes intensified, notwithstanding that the carriages and all appertaining to them are comfortable, and the guards polite and attentive. The innumerable stoppages on the company's line and the incessant shunting, together with the fact that when this occurs the traveller is tired naturally darkness prevails and prevents him seeing the necessity for the stoppages and shuntings, irritates him beyond endurance. In these days of "nerves" we wonder that there are no suicides of over-irritated passengers on this connecting link of railway. The company, as we have already indicated, is not to blame. It gives the public as much as can be given without jeopardising traffic receipts, and to expect anything in excess of this would be stupid. Under present conditions the company is powerless, however willing it might be to give the public a better service. Its tenure is uncertain, and while this is so improvement is impossible. If we wish to have a fast service and more

trains, we must look to the Government to either buy out the company and give the public what it asks, or to give the company some fixity of tenure, some guarantee that it will not be disturbed for, say, ten years, conditionally upon the company agreeing to improve the service in accordance with the demands of the public. Both courses are open to the Government, but up to the present their views upon the subject have been rather obscure. In discussing the matter last Friday evening, the Minister of Railways indicated that it was yet too soon for the Government to take over the line. If this is the view of the Government why cannot the company be secured in the possession of the railway in the meantime. Some idea as to the time when it would be prudent to purchase the line must be in the minds of Ministers, and no harm would be done the colony if the company was notified that during the interval it would not be disturbed. Such a course would, we feel sure, prove beneficial to hundreds of settlers and the travelling public. There appears to be a mistaken notion in the minds of some people that it is necessary to first complete the EketahunaWoodville railway, and then use the lever of competition to force the company into a sale that would be advantageous to the State. Apart from the dishonesty of such tactics, we believe that the price of the railway is fixed by statute, so that no competition can affect'the company. We think it inadvisable to force the Government into purchasing the line ; at the same time it is more than apparent that under present conditions the public have just cause to be dissatisfied.