Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1921. RAILWAY POLICY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2251, 15 March 1921, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1921. RAILWAY POLICY.

THE New Zealand HPrald, under the heading of a “piece-meal policy,” says: “As long ago as 1914 Mr E. H. Hilcy, who was then general manager of railways, laid down a programme of works which he considered to be immediately necessary for the safe and efficient operation of the New Zealand.railway system. During The four years of war tho Government excusably neglected this programme, and during other two years of peace, inexcusably ignored it. The programme is now forcing itself insistently upon the attention of the railway management, but instead of getting to grips with it the Government is still marking time and tinkering with the symptoms of railway disorder which can no longer be overlooked. The commission on Palmerston North improvements is an example of this opportunism. No one doubts the congestion of the station and yard at Palmerston North, or the urgency of affording relief; but why a commission ? Mr Hilcy recommended the reconstruction of the station and yard at a cost, of £40,000; the Railway Department has since evolved a scheme for deviating the line along the western side of the town and finding a new site for the station at a cost, after allowing for the sale of the ground now occupied, of £500,000. Business people object to the removal of the station from the centre of the town and the commission i* hearing their objections. It is also taking evidence in support of a scheme for shortening (lie through route by constructing - a new line between Levin and Marlon at a cost of £1,000,000, which has no more bearing upon the immediate problem than it has upon the East Coast Railway. The only inference that can be drawn from tin* setting up of the commission is that Iho Railway Department cannot be trusted to decide its own engineering and constructional problems, nor the Cabinet to decide between the business interests of Palmerston North and ,the requirements of the Railway Department. Tho magnitude of the figure now given as the price of railway facilities at Palmerston lj[ortli will come as an unwelcome ,surprise to 'the public. If a work estimated to cost £40,000 js nfiw swollen to an undertaking involving £500,000, what will be the cost of the whole Ililey programme, eslimaled in 19.14 at £3,250,000? It is fully time the Government disclosed Ihe supplementary programme Mr Ililey is understood to have recommended, and then undertook the whole scheme in a business-like fashion. If money is not available for all I In* works, then the proposals should bo scheduled in the order of urgency and a start made on the most import mil. The present policy of procrastination and piecemeal will lead nowhere, and the country at this stage cannot afford I lie solemn comedy of a commission to decide whether a £40,000 improvement should be swollen to a deviation costing half a million, or a new line costing a million.”