New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4306, 8 January 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1875.

Eevertino to the subject matter of our leading article yesterday, we are pleased to find our contemporary, the Otago Guardian, taking up the same question, namely, that of railway management. We entirely agree with everything the Guardian has written. It is absolutely essential to the success of the public works policy that the management of the constructed railways should bo placed under one responsible head ; and it is equally essential that the officer selected for that purpose should be thoroughly competent; a man of experience and resource, who can organise and invent, while commanding the respect and confidence of his subordinates. Otherwise the management must fail : there will be neverending discontent and grumbling, tho consequences of which, in a political point of view, it is impossible to forecast, judging from what has already taken place in Canterbury. There, a responsible ministry was shunted out of office, and a dry nurse provided for the Agent-Gene-ral, by reason of the obstinacy of an impracticable railway official; and when, in the not distant future, tho stakes to bo played for will be higher than seats in a provincial executive, the fate of a Colonial Government may depend upon the temper of a traffic-manager, or a stationmaster, on tho Government railways. Already, indeed, we notice signs of this kind of influence at work in Auckland, and it is on account of tho clamour raised there about tho dismissal of a railway official, that our Dunedin contemporary has been led to take up the general question. At the same time, there is a much wider and more important question behind, than a mere political one. It is this: shall tli i State railways pay 1 As the Guardian truly remarks : “Tho “ economy of the railways, and the “ safety and convenience of tho public,' “ demand for tho subject that atten- “ tion which it deserves. Now is “ tho time to make the arrangements “ for tho future. Tho railways are in “ their infancy. Their future prosperity “ depends in a great measure upon tho “ system on which they are worked, and “ upon their prosperity greatly depends “ the prosperity of the country.” It is, therefore, of the foremost importance that the Government - should reduce to system the crude material of railway management scattered up and down tho colony. Wo find that the Guardian hints at tho “ inconvenience and loss, of which tho “ public have already had a sample In “Dunedin.” Tho measure of that “in- “ convenience” might possibly bo told by

our contemporary, but the measure of the “ loss” it would be impossible to determine. No wonder then, that our contemporary, in view of contemplated changes in the management of the Otago railways, should insist upon a proper selection being made. Heretofore political hangers-on of the party in power were usually “ billeted” on the railways under provincial management, and with the worst possible results to the public. Now, we protest against the continuance of such a system ; and wo are of opinion that if the General Government do not take the provincial bull by the horns at once, by assuming the management and direction of the railways, the ’ General Assembly should not be slow to pass its censure upon Ministers. This is not a time for temporising or trilling. It is a period of the deepest anxiety for the colony. Mr. Bowen, the other night, told the electors of Kaiapoi that “the present moment is a “ very critical one in the history of New “Zealand.” It did not need a Minister to tell us that to make us believe. it. Every one sees it and feels it ; but we fail to see in Mr. Bowen’s speech, from first to last, the faintest indication that he understands the gravity -of the position. His programme is simply the old and mischievous political system stereotyped under a now name. That will never do; and were it not that we are aware the Minister of Justice does not pledge the Government, any more than his colleague the Comismisioner of Customs did at Dunedin, we should use very much stronger language. The abolition of Provincial Government, however necessary it may be—and as a part in any general measure of constitutional and administrative reform it is absolutely essential —will not effect the end in view. The public works expenditure must be made reproductive. The people mustbe settled upon the land; taxation must not be increased—nay, before long, it should be reduced; the resources and energies of the colony must be concentrated and utilised, if the large outlay on works and immigration, voted in good faith by the Legislature, is to be made reproductive. And the Government must gird its loins to the work. A dribbling policy, like that enunciated at' Kaiapoi the other night, will not do. A policy, to be successful, must be thorough ; and the Government that will retain the confidence of the country must be thorough also. Let them begin their work, therefore, by going back to the original scheme of public works and immigration, and create a railway fund. This must be done if the whole scheme is not to collapse ; because if the colony rests content with what appears to satisfy Mr. BOWEN, namely, that 1 * the trunk “ railway shall be carried on so far as to “ ensure its paying interest on the “ money expended,” it would follow that repairs and renewals must be made out of future loans. This outlook is altogether too gloomy fox’ us ; and, moreovei’, it is a future of anxiety that may be altogether averted. But to avoid it, the Government must have the courage of their opinions, and keep faith with ihe colony, as the colony is prepared to keep faith with the public creditor, at the risk of provoking the life-long hostility of the Superintendental party by destroying Superintendentalism root and branch.