RAILWAY BOARD

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1931, Page 7

RAILWAY BOARD

ATTITUDE TO BRANCH LINES

WELLINGTON, October 10. The attu-uue of the ittaHways Board to branch lines and isolated sections was indicated to-day by Mr H. li. Sterling, the chairman. “the linancial results of many of the lines are not at all encouraging, notwithstanding that reductions of expenditure have been obtained by economy arrangements which the department has already brought into operation,” said Mr Sterling. “The position in regard to many of the lines has given the board considerable con- 1 cern. The board recognises that the tax-payers cannot be expected indefinitely to carry the large financial burden that is resulting from the working of some of the branch lines and isolated sections.

“The board reviewed the position at its last meeting, but was loth to close the lines and would much prefer keeping them open if the financial results can be made to justify that course. In order to afford a further opportunity for seeing whether an improvement cannot be effected the board decided to postpone final action in the meantime and to review the various lines after a lapse of a reasonable period, when final decisions will be required to be come to. In the last analysis the financial results are determined by the amount of .patronage afforded the various lines by the people in ,the districts servied by 'them. If the people do not patronise any particular line sufficiently to justify its continued working then they can scarcely complain if the litre is closed. The A-alue of a railway line to a district and the justification of its working lie in the use which the people make of it, and it can only be concluded that if a line is not used by the people of the district they uo not need it. ‘■The Board desires therefore that it should be known in the various dstricts served by branch lines and isolated sections that the people should accord the line their fuxl patronage, as it is only by doing so that they can expect the working of the lines to be continued. The matter really lies with the people themselves.”