THE RAILWAYS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2030, 18 September 1919, Page 4

THE RAILWAYS.

■ There is no necessity whatever for a Royal Commission to discover what is the matter with the New Zealand railway system. It is as plain as a pikestait (1) that it is the worst-managed business in the community; (-) that it is conducted on lines that would bring ruin and insolvency to any privatelymanaged concern, (3) that its political and administrative heads have been deficient in capacity and foresight; (4) that instead of being, as it should he, one of the most powerful factors iu promoting the prosperity and development of the country, this great department is hampering production in all directions; and (5) unless it is promptly and radically reformed it will cost the taxpayers and producers millions of money instead of helping to create wealth and put money in their pockets. Nearly all the great business enterprises of the Dominion from the Union Steamship Co. down to any important manufacturing concern, can show a remarkable development and expansion during the last live years. They did it in spite of the disabilities imposed by the war. When their men were taken a■>Avay they found others and utilised feiimle labour. When their material was. commandeered they reached out for substitutes, and by resorting to all kinds of expedients they not only kept their businesses together but enormously increased their turnover. As u contrast, the Railway Department emerges from the war with its services ridiculously curtailed, with its customers driven away, its.charges excessive, and its facilities for handling traffic as obsolete and as inadequate as when Mr Ililey made his famous report iu 191-I.—Christchurch Sun.