THE CANDID FRIEND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16484, 25 February 1914, Page 8

THE CANDID FRIEND.

The Dunedin “ Star,” ' which has assumed a distinctly “independent” attitude towards the Liberal Party and its leaders since they went into Opposition, takes Sir Joseph Ward to task for referring in his speech at Winton to the decline in the railway revenuo during the first three quarters of tho financial year. Sir Joseph’s allusion to the subject seemed an extremely mild one when all the facts were considered. “The present Government,” he is reported as saying, “ always made a strong point of attacking the Liberal Government over the railway administration. They have let the department’s finances run riot, and this year they show results that can only be regarded as disastrous. On the returns so far published, the ratio of expenditure to revenue is phenomenally high, and in my opinion will approach 80 per cent. It is a sad commentary on the utter impracticability of their administration viewed in the light of their utterances.” But the “ Star,” by way of asserting its independence we may suppose, rebukes the leader of the Opposition for mentioning the subject at all. “We do not think,” it says, “ that Sir Joseph showed his customary judgment in seeking to throw blame on the Government for the large shrinkages in the Customs and railway revenues during the three quarters of 1913, when it is a matter of common knowledge that the falling off was in both cases due to dislocation of business consequent on the Labour troubles. Not only did the railway revenue fall off to the tune of something like a quarter of a million—a fact that was known throughout the length and breadth of the dominion—but the Minister of Railways in the interim carried on the good work initiated by Sir Joseph himself of bringing peace and contontment into the Railway Service by sanctioning substantial increments of salaries, which must necessarily make serious inroads on the earning powers of his department.” This reads all very fine and large and convincing as it is put down here, but the official returns show that the railway revenue instead of falling off “to the tune of something like a quarter of a million ” between April 1 and December 31 fell off by only £24,498, less than a tenth of the sum stated by our contemporary. It was the increased expenditure, a trifle of £155,075, that played havoc with the accounts and after every allowance has been made for the continuance of “the good work initiated by. Sir Joseph himself ” there is still a charge of some £50,000 or £60,000 that cannot be attributed to the strike or the stonewall or the short-dated loans of the Liberal Government. Until wo see the Minister’s annual. statement we can only guess where the money lias gone.