RAILWAYS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 April 1928, Page 4

RAILWAYS

CONSTRUCTED AND UNCON STRUCTED.

HOW THE MILLIONS GO

(Taxpayer.) The railway accounts for the financial year ended on March 31 last probably will not he gazetted for a week or two yet. Meanwhile it is safe to assume that when they do appear they will confirm the Prime Minister’s prediction that the working of the lines for the twelve months would result in a loss of, approximately, £1.000,000. With tliis prospect in view the time surely is not inopportune to ask the Government what it is going to do about the matter. Parliament has given it authority to construct further lines at a cost ot over £15,000,000 and the Prime Minister lias proclaimed the necessity for the expenditure of millions, more millions and still more millions, mainly, it would seem, to meet the competition of the motor ear and the lorry. In view of what is going on in this respect in the Home Country, in the United States, in Canada, and in other countries, it appears well-nigh suicidal for New Zealand to he planning for the expenditure of millions more in the construction of railways which, for tlio most part, would become only a further burden upon tlie taxpayers.

MINISTER'S GOOD RESOLUTIONS. Already the unfortunate public is paying through the Consolidated Fund half a million a year towards the maintenance of railways, euphemistically styled “development lines,” which, never have paid their way and never will. Less than four years ago—perhaps, one may say, with the zest of a. new broom —the Prime Minister stated that the policy of constructing new lines would he closely .scrutinized by the Public Works, Railways, Agriculture and oilier State Departments, and that "so far as possible,” the construction of uneconomic lilies would be eliminated. Mr Coates further stated that no line should be undertaken “ unless it could be shown that interest on the capital could be earned within a reasonable time oi its completion.” Reverting to unpaying branch lines the Minister said that “by counteractin'; competition and utilizing cheaper transport methods the working expenses could be reduced to a minimum and the revenue substantially increased.” Though nearly four years have elapsed since the Prime Minister trained these pious resolutions, and though be lias been repeatedly reminded of the lact that they remain unlulfilled, the “developmental lines,” which never develop, have continued to raid the pockets of the taxpayers, great and small, at the rate of some £500.000 a year. STILL UNFULFILLED.

Those facts are incontrovertible and it is not now a matter of distributing the blame for the continued waste and extravagance, but a matter ol providing p remedy. No good purpose could he served by making the blunders ol the past the subject of party recriminations during the approaching elections. All the parties are more or less responsible for the existing state of affairs, and they all should join in an cflorfc to repair the position. That, perhaps, is too much to expect, Irom human nature; hut the Government, as the party in possession, very well might give tfie country a lead. It could begin by ridding itsell oi the delusion that the public interest is best served by suppressing all forms oi competition with the railways. Then it could recall tinfifteen millions voted lor railway construction with a view to the reduction of the amount and a redistribution ol the balance. Finally, it could find in this wide world a system ol numagj-

merit which would assure efficiency without daily intcrleronce from the politicians, and so free the country s railways from reiterated reproaches and the country itself front a grievous drain upon its resources.