THE LATEST RAILWAY SWINDLE.

Manawatu Herald, Issue 24, 23 November 1880, Page 2

THE LATEST RAILWAY SWINDLE.

In last issue Aye gave a table of the nonpaying branch lines in the South Island. Tlie " palm of honor," as ' tho most expensive line in the country, was awarded to the Mount Somers branch, the expenditure upon 1 which was three and a half times greater than the income. In an exchange to hand we notice the subjoined article from the Otago Daily Times, which certainly throws lighton the Mount Somers line, and will [ well repay perusal. The Daily Times : says : — An advertisement appears in our columns ' siirne.l on behalf of the Publio Works De- , p iitmenr. by W. N. Blair, engineer in-chief of the Middle Island, pulling for tenders for tho " Ashburton branch extensioncontrnot." On enquiry, we fi«d that, this is what has • been otherwise known to fame as the Mount Somors line, a portion of which.some twelve miles or so in extent, has been cnnipleNd, -.md for a short time at work. Turning to ; the tables of relarivo pern _t ago of expenditure to receipts for the month cf September, we discover that tho Mount Somors line his a proud pre eminence abovo all other Hups in ono important respect. It is, par excellence, the line that is worked al the fire i test loss of any on the list j and not only ■he greatest loss, but fur nnd away the greatest; for, whilt» the short Shag Point branch, of which so much has boon said, is worked at a loss represented by _?58 per cent, on the rcc.-ipts, the Mount Somors branch is worked at no less than 305 per cent, in other w>rds, for every pound taken for traffic on this remarkable br.un-h three pounds ten shillings is expended. This statu of things has evidently attracted tho attention of the Minister for Public Works. He has doubtless argued thus: — " This line manifestly wants a little stimulus applied to it: as it dots not pay — stands, inde> d, at th 9 v. ry zero of nonpaying lines,— we will make n few more milos of it. ; the result cannot possibly be worse, nnd may by a lucky chance bo better thrn at present." That is what wo may i term a bold, f;.r-.«eoiug policy. Any ordinary i Minister would have said, Shut it up; but Mr Oliver is not an ordinary Minister On looking a little further into the matter, we i.ttnnot.'di-oovor ♦hat Parliament has given any warrant for continuing this line or that tho Minister for Public Work* even a«ked Parliament for any such warrant In his Publio Works Statement he is silent about it, and in the ' Public Works Appropriation Bill only a very small vote was taken, a few hundreds in excess of tho es .mated cost of work done or then in progress. The inference fairly is that this line was not to be extended ; till Parliament could n^ain vote upon it. i There is, it is true, in the _ta_ way ComI missioners* report a recommendation re- ' gurding it to the following r-ftVct : — " This • branch is already in progress ; thp cos' will I ho sm/dl, and it will serve a large ngricul- • rural distiid, and at the same limi- opori i out a conl-mine nnd stom quarries at. Mount which it may fairly be calculated ) will bring considerable traflic to the line.'' i But one thing morejtban all the rest marks

db.t this iino na one to be made at. all Co*ts. 0 Tt leads, Wo belipva, to th- land and tlie g re -iidenoe of Mr U. G. Writrht, one of the £ Railway Commissioners, who must there- , fore know something about tho capabilities v of the country. He is, indeed, probably in- I terested, in a patriotic sense, in tho si one _ quarries and coal- mioea which are to do -o much for the traffic; and just as his cnlleatrue and our particular friend Mr g John Reid, of Ellerslio.na.urally preferred the Livingstone lice to the Ofctitfo Central, so Mr E. Q. Wright prefers the Mount Snmers line to any o^her line whatever But how has In managed to impress his views upon tho Government ? Arert.Ythe , Commissioners to be gratified for their valuable nei vices by a piece of line being C mado at the public cost to their doors? ( Surely Mr Curtis will not be left out in the ) cold ; and if Mr J. iv!. Cla^k, of Auckland, and Mr Edward Pca.ce, of Wellington, do 1 not want railways, they ore all but certain ] to want something else. The Groyernraent can but deal fairly with tht>ra all round. Ifc j cannot be. that a Government which we had regarded as above all suspicion of jobbery is being led into anything improper; that, ] at least, wo will not believe. No ; appear- I ances may be all against them. but. < somehow or anothf-r it must be all ( right. After all, the line is "only a little one," and the tender called for at present is only for formation. Ifc may be true that formation is usually followed by sundry expenses for sleepers, rails and ballasting to say nothing of working it afterwards a*, a loss; but these may be postponed, as they will almost certainly follow if the line is formed when Parliament meets. Tho 35-5 per cent expenditure to which we havo alluded only hhows that something must be dono to make this branch pay, so why not extend it ? The argument may be s mewhat of tho Ivcus a non- Iticcndo character, but we caunot help fchafc — it is a matter for faith and not for sight, and we are bound to believe that the Government could nofc possibly intend to make a line thafc will continue to cost a large sum annually to work it., merely because the making of it will gratify and mayhap enrich an ex commissioner. Some curiou-5 Ojiigo members, however, may like to put. a question or two on the subject to fcho lion. Mr Oliver, and point out to him one or two lines that fkn/ would like gone on with in the abseuce of a Parliamentary vote. There aro Cutlin's River, Orepuki, and other places that will repny quite as magnificent a return as the Mount Somers lino is doing, for railway communication. That pre-eminent "shocking examplo " of non-payabk-ness eau scarcely bo emulated, but it may be ap-