WELLINGTON NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 26 October 1923, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES

THE HAIRY FOOL. THE PRODUCERS’ DECISION. [Simxial To Tick Gvap.dian.] WELLINGTON. Oct. 23. The. l opponents ol the Dairy Produce Export Control Act arc by no means downhearted over the result of the poll by which the measure was confirmed ami given t lie full force and effect of statute law. With the cheery optimism which marked their conduct of the propaganda campaign they are finding in the voting and in the non voting of the factory suppliers a moral victory, similar to the triumphs that used to gladden the hearts of Mr Massey and his companions in defeat during the palmy days of Liberalism. Commenting in

the local papers on the position yesterday morning, Mr F. IT. Leonard of Auckland, ami Mr C. E. Maxwell of Taranaki, who between them bore the heat and burden of the figbt on behalf of the co-operative factories, claim, in effect, that the Act was confirmed by suppliers who had been carried off their feet by the sponsors of the measure and allowed no time to realise the perils of its crude system of compulsion. He this as it may, there is the curious fact that while a huge majority of the voles polled early were in favour of the Act, those polled later were almost evenly divided. COLD COMFORT. The "post” last night urged the triumphant suppliers not to expect too mucli from the new remedy for the ills of their industry. After referring to the abuse formerly heaped upon the head of 'Tooley Street.’ it turned to the new outlook. "Happily tlial abuse lias been dropped.” 11 said. "The vi-ii oi Sir Thomas (lenient and oilier representatives of 'Tooley Street’ cleared the air; and now Sir Thomas Allen lias endeavoured to brush away any lingering thoughts about its integrity or otherwise. Until the Act has been in operation for some time it would be unwise to predict its ultimate failure, but wo are not. inclined to take the view of a voter whose paper was informal, ‘God help ii. if we <lon'l succeed.’ The Act is, perhaps, capable of effecting some improvement in the marketing of dairy produce ; but those who voted for it must not be disappointed if it does not realise all the dreams they have had about it.” This is the characteristic caution of the evening journal, hut it still ventures upon the hope “that the measure will have all the good results to the industry that its champions have said it will achieve." THE HOARD.

The •'Dominion” this morning eon* corns it soil' with the election of the hoard of Control, which it says, very truly, will he responsible for the success or the failure of the scheme. Tile Hoard will consist of nine member'! elected by the producers, two nominaled by the Governineiit and one appointed by ibe Governor-Genera!—prac-tically tin Government —as the representative of persons for the time being engaged in business as manufacturers of dairy produce nr as sellers of such produce out ol Xew Zealand, whether as agents or on their own account." The North Island producers will elect six members and the South Island three, and the "Douiinion' implies that if these members are well chosen they will need little assistance from the Humiliated mem hers in justifying the predictions of the promoters of the pool. "The point the producers should note," the "Dominion" declare.', "is that their elected representatives will constitute the major portion of the board.” The polling, it is expected, will not take place for some time yet, perhaps not for several mouths, and in that easy the present season will lie far advanced before the hoard can take ran I ml. THE GOAL TRUE RLE. The Hon G. J. Anderson, the Minister in Labour and of -Mines, left bore last - veiling for Rccftou with a view to mceiliig the parties to the coal di-, pule and, if possible, reaching a settle incut of the trouble. Mr Anderson eu UTtains high hopes of -success. IL- has been in constant communication will: the employers ami it is at their nictation he is visiting the scene of the I rouble. He should he particularly well equipped lor a task of this description. In ll.e days of his political youth away back in the eighties, when a valiant, Knight of Labour, he had much to do with the shaping of the first Conciliation and Arbitration Act introduced by the Hon \Y. F. Reeves, and lie still stands firmly by the spirit of that measure. liul, he admits frankly that times and conditions have changed dur-

iny the hist thirty years just as ho, to some extent, has changed his outlook upon parties and polities—hut lie denounces with ali his ioriner fervour I lie foolishness and waste of industrial strife by which over side it may be aggravated. This is the first big t rouble ol the kind he has handled since lie assumed the dual offices of Labour and .Mines and his intervention is being watched with much interest. THE IIAII.AYAYS. AN OI’TTMfSTJC A'l MAY. WE! I.IXCTO.V October 21. fit tlu.se days the "New Zealand limes" is amtmg the most consistent ol .Mark Taj:lev’s disciples in remaining “jolly" even in the most depressing circumstances. Though a traditional opponent. of deform and all its woiks it has found joy in tile Ooverurnent’s fin-

ance. its taxation, its land settlement and its general administration. Now it is jubilant over its railway management. Given good weather and a good fire.hieing season," it says, “the railways will probably give a net profit of ti per cent on their capital cost at. the end of the current year. There will in that case he a substantial sum to recoup losses of past years. It can safely he said that the railways are justifying themselves. Tf production and settlement can lie rapidly increased, as they ought to he. by a well-consid-ered forward policy, the time is not faroff when the railways will bo paying a handsome annual profit to the State without imposing charges too burdensome to the users." This is a glowing picture indeed. The cheery soul whom Dickens sent travelling with Martin Clmzzlewit could hardly have excelled the work of this daring optimist. But unfortunately it doer not harmonise with the facts as they are known to every student of the public

accounts. ONLY HALF THE STONY. To begin with, the ‘’capital cost" of the railways of the Dominion, as it is stated year after year in th 0 official returns, does not nearly represent- the actual cost of the lines. They all, practically have’been built with borrowed money, obtained at rates varying from ;3.J per cent to fit per cent, and yet added to the hook cost of any one of them. The East, ami A Vest Coast Railway in the South Island, which has been under const met ion for some 23 years or so. must have cost a great deal more in interest- than it has in labour and material. This, perhaps, is the most flagrant ease of money being wasted liv dilatory methods, but every mile of line in the country has been loaded in the same way. though the accounts do not disclose the fact. Then: there is an army of Civil Servants, whose salaries are paid from the Consolidated Fund, constantly employed in the work of construction and adding to the actual cost of the lines. Taking only theso two factors into

account, it probably would bowel] within the mark to say that the railways of the Dominion have cost twice as much as tin: amount standing against them in the books at the Public Works Department. THE FORWARD POLICY.

In these circumstances to talk of tho time when the railways will pay a handsome profit to the State as not being fat’ off, is more than a little .ludicrous. It is simply non-scnsical, and it will remain simply nonsensical till the forward policy of which the “Times” is dreaming is actually put into operation. It is trite there are some grounds for relieving the lines from the charge for interest during the course of their construction. They have helped enormously in the .settlement of the country and ill the development of its resell roes. Rut even freed from this incubus, which ought not to be half as heavy as it. i'. they still would have a poor chance of [laying a handsome profit to the State under the present policy, which never has returned as much ns (> per cent upon the official ■‘capital cost.” Thirty years ago. when the amount of capital involved was much smaller than it is now, tlie re-

turns averaged about 2] per rent and in 1890-07 they were swollen to about 3', per cent by the Railway Department charging other State Departments as ordinary eti-tomers. This rate has been slightly exceeded on several occasions but nearly always by economic-. l ' which have meant lessened services and increased (barges. TILE WAY OUT. These minimised services and increased charges, in the opinion of many high authorities are an absolute reversal of the first principle of sound railway managejnent. They may reduce the expenditure. but they cannot permanently augment the revenue. The old idea, that railways should he judiciously placed and rapidly constructed was perfectly sound, and it was abandoned in this country only when the politicians, taking the parochial rather than tho national view, clamoured lor what they called an ‘■‘dpiitahie distrL lit ion” of the public works votes, and .sn.-cessi-,-. Governments deemed it- expedient to accede to their demands. Sir Joseph Ward years ago ventured to kick against the pricks in this mailer, but the- force-, arrayed against him were over-whelming, and now the I Ton. .1. G. Coates, who lias hinted at a revival of the policy, is threatened with a similar fate. The plain fad is that the politicians, however, good tho intentions of their leaders may be, are not to he trusted with either the construction or the management of railways. The sooner these responsibilities are transferred to nmi-politicnl bodies the belter it will lie for the count:.'.