RAILWAY STATION LIGHTING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4298, 1 August 1921, Page 2

RAILWAY STATION LIGHTING.

COMPLAINTS GENERAL. i aerpa is not the only place where people have cause to complain about -the failure of the Railway Depat lment to utilise electric current, where available, for the lighting of railway stations, in preference to kerosene and candles. States the Ngaruawahi.t Advocate,: ‘Many people qondemn State enterprises, but we have never yet heard anyone who advocated h,anding over our post and telegraph system to private ownership. We sometimes growl at it and it is often abused, because its development lags behind .the desires of individuals, but taking the Postal Department altogether, it must be regarded as an efficient institution. The “trust” class o; business which evplved in the. United States and is not unknown in many other lands, produces magnificent, organisation. However, if our Postal Deparrment Were handed over to suca a trust it is doubtful if its efficiency would, be increased to any extent, while it is entirely .likely that its charges would be increased; the trust would demand a handsome profit, The Railway Department, on the other hand, is not an example of a hrilliapt State enterprise. We believe that the railways should bp owned and operated nationally, but our present railway service is not an .argument in favpur of this thesis. For instance, there is the case of the fighting of Ngaruawahia station. We ac not know what set of (rpd '.tape rules or officials is responsible, bu.t the kerosene lighting, when electricity is available, is simply a crowning triumph of that almost super-human

folly that is too frequently sprinkle', through the railway administration The Ngaruawahia Post; Office nas thirty electric lights (although ;hc building is not used day and night as is the railway station), but we are confident that its lighting account will not bo one-third of what the Railway Department pays for the few miserable lights in its Ngaruawahi.'j station, which must be kept staffed day and night. The system is absolutely inefficient, unfair to the night ■staff and unfair to the taxpayer. The reason for this clinging to kerosene when a better, cheaper light is available, is obscure, and does not reflect credit on the reasoning powers of those responsible. It is because, of glaring cases of waste and inefficiency of the nature discussed that one is tempted to condemn State trading. The proper course, however, is“to rectify the inefficiencies, by re moving who create or condone them, and in our judgment this can best be done by taking the railways entirely out of political' control and running them as a business by a small bo.ard of business men, call •them commissioners or whatever one likes. It is quite possible that bne qr more of such commissioners might himself prove stupid or over-bearing, but, if so, his faults would find him out far more quickly than under the present form of political control. Ic would hardly be possible, undejr the commissioner form of control, for obstinate stupidity to run jto such lengths as evidenced in tl.e lighting arrangements of the Ngaruawahia railway station.”

Regarding the Post Office and other State institutions, the “Gazette” may point out that although the postage on a letter is .twopence, this does not cover the whole charge. The expenditure for new building and extensions, that is, capital expenditure, comes out of the general taxes and is not a direct charge pn the business. If the truth were known the cost of sending a letter may really be 4d or 6d 1