RAILWAY SERVICE

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1930, Page 7

RAILWAY SERVICE

MINISTER'S FAITH IN FUTURE,

FURTHER DRASTIC, ■'ECONOMIES.

WELLINGTON, September 18. Faith in the future of the Railway Department was expressed by the .lion.- W. A. Vtritch, Alinister of Railways, in the - House to-day during the debate on the Railways Statement. Holding that the present position

. firas serious, necessitating a drastic • utifd comprehensive remedy, the MinTis Lor said that, unless the finances Were strengthened and unnecessary competition eliminated, the Department would be faced not with the question of discharging a few hundred men,* but the question of. reducing the permanent staff. The Minister said the gross earnings of the Department during last year wore „ £8,250,000, which showed a decrease over the previous five years of £BO,OOO. That was not a very big decrease in such a great concern ps the Railway Department, halt it was a decrease nevertheless. As against that there was an increase of nearly £900,000

MH the working expenses of the Department. At first sight those figures \gave one the impression, as it- hud given him, that there had been carelessness in the matter of expenditure in the Department, .but the more he analysed the problem the more he realised that in face of the difficulties confronting/ 'the Department there was a'great deal to be said in justication of the, increase in expenditure. Futhermore, it had to he remembered that last year-it . was necessary to expend £250,000 in overtaking arreas in repairs. On tho whole there was no reason to condemn the railway administration up to the present point.' .• . The 'Minister expressed 1 the opinion that the methods of accounting were such as to-require some changes, and improvement,faird lib, was I 'convinced that it Was 1 impossible for the Department to meet,-the' requirements of the • present lAw as-- to the . amount of ’ money,,;it/was expected to provide for depreciation, interest ,on capital and other ; relative accounts. ' ■

ECONOMIES EFFECTED. Air Veitch ’ said that ho major changes of policy would be made until the report of the Royal Commission came to hand. When the report was received, the whole policy of the Department would be investigated with a view to meeting the new situation. .At the same time several economies had been- effected. For instance, there had 'been an elimination or train mileage of ' 870,000 train miles per annum, and that had brought about a very substantial reduction in cost of train running, The elimiKHion of train mileage was amply justified when they realised that during the last five or six years there had actually been an increase in

train hlileage of 2,900,000 train miles. Tho Department might have been criticised for having increased the train mileage m face of reduced business arid reduction of passenger revenue. However, it had to be remembered that the Department would have been seriously iblamed by the public if it had not made a determined effort to retain and recover passenger traffic and -other railway business as far as they were able to do it. Experience new showed that it would he folly to continue such

methods, spending large sums of money chasing traffic which it was impossible to catch.

CLOSING OF BRANCH LINES

' Referring fo the closing of branch lines, the Minister said that in this connection he had had his most satisfactory and pleasant experience. Today they were in the happy position of beirig able to keep a numlber of lines, going owing to the response which had been made by the residents of localities affected. 'Vigilant committees had been set up in various districts, and as a result the Department was getting' a lot of business which it had previously lost.

Passing on to discuss competition witli road traffic, the Minister said it was hoped very shortly to get legislation through the House which would give the Department power to coordinate both forms of traffic, It was urgently necessary that the veryheavy cost of competition between the Department and private enterprise should- ho eliminated. He was certain that 'much of it could ibe eliminated to the benefit, of • tlie country and without any detriment to the road transport companies. DISMISSALS OF STAFF. .'The Minister remarked that bo had come in for criticism by reason of flic necessity of dispensing, with the services of a considerable number of mens- That was tlie one and only painful duty that had developed on hiniilsinco lie took charge of the RailDepartment. He was one of those* who believed the railway service, had a great future before it and stilf;J}ad a big part to play in the development of the country. Unless they Mould strengthen the finances of and unless they ocri|lcf v ';pass such transport legislation asbswould enable them to eliminate waste and unnecessary competition, and unless they could effect measures of economy and carry out improvemeritsJin the Department, the time would ‘ come when it would not be a question of decreasing a few hundred men, but a question of decreasing the number of permanent men employed in the Department, It was his responsibility and his duty to take a firm hold of the position. He was not going to try to live in a coward’s castle. In order to strengthen the financial position and -bring about improvements it was essential that he should have the co-operation of the staff, and ho was sure that the railwaymen as a whole ■would stand behind him. j “We need have no fear as to the future of the Department,” said Mr

Veitch. “At present tlie Department is suffering along' with everybody else as a result of the depression, but it has to be remembered that the depression is not permanent, and that good times will come again. It will be necessary to carry out further drastic economies in the future.”

Air Jordon (Manakau): Vliat do you mean by economics in the future? Do you mean more men wiU be discharged? The Minister: No one knows what the future has in store. The possi-

hi!ities c«.' the future are very great indeed. A slight increase in production from the land will give the Department a great deal more business, ns wi'l the .development of land settlement, hydro-electricity and fhe tourist traffic. '1 hero is no doubt that the position is very serious indeed and calls, for a drastic and comprehensive remedy, but we must realise that the future is full of hope.”