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Hokitika Guardian, 28 July 1922, Page 2

Bv common consent u very active campaign against railway freights in pnrin ular, and railway management in general, is being made in various Parts oi the Dominion. The high Ireights have resulted in the establishment ol opposition motor traffic, whieh it appear* has eome to stay, the result of the opposition lias been so pronounced that the Railway Department Inis now to meet it, and one ol the' first indications is the cut in the Ireights lor petrol. A consignor renmrkcd the other day that when placing petrol on a train, the freight was so high that it was a case of buying it InicK to get it oil the train ; Of course, that i g not always the story, ’I here is the reverse picture. The freight on some commodities is too trivial to take into account. The transport ol fruit, for instance, from Central Otago to Lyttelton, must lie almost a dead loss to the Department. But tlii, s contrasts only serve to show the time lor an over-haul of the tariff is long overdue, and as a matter of fact it is now promised. Railway management is often a subject for comment. The plain fact is that the control is too strictly departmental. There is not enough business acumen shown n.ir sufficient elasticity displayed in the management. The Government bus promised the infusion of business control ,and a revision of the forms of management. These re-

forms lire well overdue. The railways are a great asset to the country, and they should lie seen to the best possible economical results. The paying lines have to hear the burden of the non-paying political lines, and if the people knew more about the losses on some of the latter, those directly reresponsible for the management would have an easier time, for the revelations would justify heavy retrenchment on some of the branches which are run at a great daily loss hamperii*«x tho whole system. It is a distinctive compliment to j Westland to find that the Y.M.C.A. • walking party will lie again turning their steps westward on the annua summer holiday tramp. It is eiisloinar.v for these tours to break fresh ground year by year, hut the exper-

ienees in Westland last Christmas prompt llie visitors to return next Christinas, when their inarch will he into South Westland. The visitors last year have not forgotten their tour, and members of the party are still extolling the district for its seen- ; io attractions and ready hospitality, j No doubt the tramp into South West-, land will reveal more imposing seen- I cry, and a greater variety. There is ' not any other place in the Dominion which can provide so varied a scenic programme as South Westland, with its wonderful bush glades, its glorious lakes, its splendid rivers, its remarkable glaciers and its striking mountains. Hie expanse of bush country to be varied from- every eminence, backed by the snow-capped mountains, presents a view which is nltogetbtT 10 I'lk> Cftuterbnrv

visitor surfeited with gazing upon the Plains of the East Coast. So the visitors will have a pleasant prospect ahead of them, and it is well that the Progress League should do its best to make the coming tour a success. This is a form of advertising calculated to do the greatest good. Capturing fresh admirers of Westland, and sending them abroad to toil of the new country lying to the south of the longest railway tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere, is to describe something which to the world at large has been, hitherto, a terra incognito. Visits such as proposed will do a great deal of good ami be a first class means of bringing Westland into its own.