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Hokitika Guardian, 18 September 1926, Page 2

The frequency of serious railway smashes in Australia of an appalling character suggest that the system there stand in need of a close overhaul, and by comparison we must regard the New Zealand system as greatly superior to that of the Commonwealth. The trains in Australia travel at a. liighei speed than do those ill New Zealand, because generally there is a broadei g unge. The higher speed calls for a close attention to the traqk as well as sound vehicles. It is manifest that a swiftly moving train must strain all parts of the component vehicles. 'Jhis becomes more intensified on gradients and curves. For that reason first class inspection should be maintained. Visitors have remarked over and over again on the well-kept appearance of the New Zealand rolling stock, and there is said to he a marked si/]>eriority in that, respect- over many of the trains in Australia. The difference is sufficient to be noticed, and that- suggests one reason why the Dominion is freer from accidents. There has been much complaint about the speed of the Limited trains in the North Island, hilt the responsible authorities do not admit serious danget on that score, lint there, «« in Australia, or anywhere where rolling stock of any kind is used for transport, it would appear that the faster the vehicle is required to travel, the more frequent and critical should lie the inspection. The tapping of the wheels when passing trains pull up at stations is not the matter of form as it appears to ho. It is a close and necessary inspection, and the authorities see that it is not done in a perfunctory manner. The precautions taken in. that respect, and in other directions including patrolling of the running tracks, arc all with the object of living up to the ideal of “Safety first.” That motto cannot Ire regarded with too much care if extraordinary accidents are to he avoided. Wc believe in that respect the travelling public on the New Zealand railways are well safeguarded. It is a wise and necessary expenditure, as a preventative of pqssiblc accident. While the very serious accidents in Australia are to he deplored and regretted from every point of view, the occasion seems to suggest that wo in New Zealand have much to he thankful for that the service here is .so well regulated that the Dominion is free from the serious catastrophes so frequent on the other side of the Tasman Sea.

Tire time is approaching when the principle of arbitration a* practiced in the Dominion will .be on serious trial. Several labour organisations are tilting at the .fudge of the Arbitration Court, and are seeking his removal. Such a process would be entirely wrong if it were possible to remove any Judge by such means. This direct attack from organised labor might go further than the promoters hope for —in that the agitation which is being aroused, may lead to the revision of the whole system. The principle of arbitration in itself should lie amply fail- to all parties. But there is another side, and that is the administration of the principle. The Court is composed of three persons, one appointed by Labour, a second by the Employers, and the third (who is Chairman) by the Government. The State appointee lias been a judge of the Supreme Court, .some one who could Ik? relied upon for independence and with a trained mind to sift evidence and arrive at a considered opinion. In practice the Chairman is the Court, being the only independent one of the trio—the other two members being subject to the unconscious bias whch attends a partisan appointee. There can be no question as to the benefits in wages, hours, and general conditions labour has derived from the work of the Court, and in all the circumstances it is difficult to account for the present Labour agitation for the removal of the sitting Judge, who by his learned pronouncements has proved himself so ably fitted for the delicate task he is called oil to discharge—that of holding the scales of justice at equal poise between the two' factors concerned. But in the thought for the times published to-day, there is another review of the policy adopted by the Court, through the failure not to stabilise wages and by so doing seek to lower the oost of living. The steady upward tendency of wages and the restrictions on hours in regard to other conditions, are naturally affecting trade and industry more or less adversely, and until the position is stabilised there will he lacking hope for material reform to assure a fall in the cost of living. This view coming to the surface just now will tend to excite thought as to the whole principle of the application of arbitration, and will 1 another factor in the demand for a review of the system governing the administration of the labor laws. That the matter is of the highest importance goes without saying, and there is the need for the closest analysis of the position to avoid any catastrophic mistake being made.