RAILWAY CONTROL

Hokitika Guardian, 4 October 1930, Page 2

RAILWAY CONTROL

SIR, 0. NIEMEYER’S IDEA,

HIS STATEMENT PUBLISHED,

• (By Telegraph—Per Press Association.) WAIPUKURAU, October 3. '- '7 At the Municipal Theatre to-night, Hon. Mr Ransom addressed a large arid .representative audience of the : Waipawa electors. Air R. McLean, 7 the Mayor, presided. Mr Ransom’s electorate adjoins Waipawa, and Mr Ransom is an old Hawke’s Bay boy. v The interest in his address was thus 1 stimulated. In 6ommeneing, Mr Ran- £ som referred in feeling terms to the i- death of Sir Geo. Hunter, necessitate r' ing the bye-election. Referring to Treasuary and Railway ;! matters, Mr Ransom delivered an exh tract from a confidential report received from Sir Otto Niemeyer from '" Sydney. It was as follows-: '‘There is at present no • comparision to be made between the finacial position of New- Zealand and of Australia^;-but 1 some of the external factors which have faced Australia must also affect New' Zealand. New Zealand, thanks largely to its sound financial methods of the past, enjoys a high reputation on the over seas lending market, but

in its own interests, it seems to ine that it should not be led away by that , reputation into oversea borrowing hot jirejfdily productive—in the sense of pro- . d.ucting within a reasonable period an iincrease in export values equivalent •"at' least to the actual .service of sucU borrowing. With the uncertainty of ■ 7[future agricultural prices, it seems tor •ine; that New . Zealand would be wise : ; to Ybe conservative in her overseas \ loan' proposals in the near future. 1 [yonder would it be wise in New Zea:f land to follow the example of most ' other, countries, and, without in any ■ Way removing the railway . system • from public ownership, to" place the

• management, in the hands of a special A outside hoard, appointed for. a suitable ’ period of -years ? Such a .Board- would need: a paid; whole-time 'chairman, : The other members could quite well be outside private persons, 'analogous' to the'directors 'of an ordinary-, pompahy;, , ‘receiving only small fees jand attend■'ixig, periodical hoard meetings. It would be.essential, that, the -Board - for jjTf He/ period of their appointment should •jj;;have, complete' authority and responslj||bjlitjr, , and should also, be. '.responsible [ jiffir the business management'of the | jji&ilways, including the fixing of the [rates, and also for decision'as to whef her or, not it should propose for the f'icOnstructioh of new lines. . It further |l ; is important i to; co-ordinate the. . railjlway ivith the road construction,: and : >- \ -nowhere; more' iso than in acountry ; -\Vhere -the State has sutlk capital lti both forms of transport. I caivhbt . -help feelilig that touch difficulty might have been avoided by cloaer co»opera- . ticm at an earlier stage as between the railyygys constfilc-. tion schemes,'. There is not room or *"7i|&e<J,' in -New Zealand j. lor a standing co-ordinating authority to judge, lrt the general interest between the com-

peting proposals of the road and railway authorities, each of which ineviUy.tably tends to consider its own angle 'Only. With regard to the wider ques';;;::tion of general transport facilities, it appears -to -me;. that, while, the. propoL sals, for construction, in either ' cases '£:•should be initiated solely, by the re--s=|y; .spohsible authority, they , should ;sub- * \je6t controlling veto by. a person such ;. as . the Minister of Transport, who is "in a position to judge between the two interests and the general public. I .should like to draw attention to one other piece of . financial . machinery. England, after the war, in order to accentuate the financial authority of the Treasury, found it a necessity 'rule in the matter of Government policy that a financial resolution-which required, before the Committee stage, any bill imposing an extra charge on the public funds be on the Parliamen-

tary Order-Paper, in the name 6f the "Treasury, though it actually, was defended in the House by the Depart:;7v meht concerned. The effect-of , this 7 : ' regulation was to secure - that no bill involving expenditure, could proceed 7 through the House. without full con--7 vsideration previously, with the Treas-

ury fund. In England the procedure outlined was a. real •• use of treasury ' control over expendiui’e proposals by 'departments. ' ~ '■ Mr Ransom added that Sir O’. Nlemeyer had agreed with the methods the United Party were adopting to balance the budget by relying largely on the Dominion’s financial resources. Coincident with Sir 0. Niemeyer’s report recommending a railways board, he said the Government received immediately afterwards the recommendations of the Board placed before Parliament.

In the course of the address, which in the main was • a reply to Mr Coates, Mr Samuel and Mr David Jones’ speeches on their recent tour of the electorate,' Mr, Ransom contended that Parties must not be judged by promises. ' .fbut by performances, which the .United Party accepted as its test positively.

Ho also dealt exhaustively with the United Party’s first year’s stewardship. There was no doubt, lie said, the present condition of our poliiics was displeasing to' the Reformers, who prefer, that the worker the small farmer, the salaried man, and also. the. business man should shoulder the whole burden, instead of the large land proprietors, the capitalistic- class and-the idle rich.

Mr Ransom dealt exhaustively with the legislation brought down by the United Party, explaining each Act in detail, and paying particular stress on

the land settlement, the development of the crown lands, the finance to settlers, the devolopment of the pumice clay lands, the land income tax, and also other Acts of a satisfactory nature. In the past, he saitl, the Reformers tried to make out New Zealand was in a state of emergency, but they were totally incorrect. .She would pull through her, difficulties A- Lne responsibility rested with the people or the Dominion. The electors should not be misled by the Reform Party’s discredit of the administration of the United Party. Mr Ransom received an attentive hearing, and ail expression of thanks and of confidence in the United Party. A resolution pledging support of Mr Jull’s candidature was also carried.

AN AUCKLAND OPINION.

AUCKLAND, October 3. The proposal to remove the railways ■control was warmly commended by Mr M. Stewart, president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, which has advocated this step for several years. Mr Stewart said he was confident that the proposed board could make larger savings than' the commission suggests. The whole question of economies would have been better left to the proposed Board, but he Welcomes the suggestions as far as they go. Increased fares aiid freights lie regards as inevitable. Tile heavy deficit annually Is partly fliie to the fact that the railways ai‘e over-capitalised, but tile Department is faced with further additions for capital works, including Auckland and Wellington railways stations, Westfield deviation and seven new lines, These uncompleted lines should be stopped, unless it is proved that they will pay. “The railway deficit is one of ( the those serious financial problems to-day,” concludes Mr Stewart. “The loss is too heavy and really constitutes a budget deficit.”