The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1203, 24 February 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1880.

We briefly referred in Saturday's issue to the constitution of the Royal Commission upon Railways, and stated broadly that we were by no means satisfied with the selection of Commissioners made by the Ministry. We showed that the Government, in making their choice of members of one of the most important Commissions that have ever been appointed in the Colony, had paid a greater amount of thonght and care to the appointment of strong political allies than to the obtainment of men thoroughly qualified to perform their important duties totally irrespective of political feeling or party bias. Now, let us for a moment glance at the duties which the Commission will have to perform, and see whether or not any of those chosen as Commissioners possess special knowledge upon the subjects to qualify them for their very important positions. It is true that we have but small means of ascertaining exactly what the Commission will be called upon to do, or to what lengths they will be able to go to in prosecuting their inquiries. But some insight into these matters was given by the Hon. Mr. Oliver in his Public Work 3 Statement, and the brief reference made by him to the subject bears out our assertion that the Commission is one of very great importance to the Colony. We were told by the Public Works Minister that the Ministry thought " the time had come when our whole future policy wjth reward to public works must be considered/' and it is with a view to obtaining this consideration that the Commission has been appointed. " It is our intention," said the hon. gentleman, " to ask Parliament for authority to appoint a Royal Commission to make a more full and complete investigation into the cost and economical value of the several works commenced and proposed than it would be possible for the Government unaided to complete before next session of Parliament." Here is the main explanation given by the Minister for Public Works of the duties which the Commission would have to undertake, and we cannot refrain from expressing the opinion that the whole thing looks very much like shifting a very considerable amount of responsibility as well as work from the shoulders of the Ministry to those of a Commission irresponsible to Parliament, It would certainly seem from the sentence quoted above that the Ministry did not care to undertake the construction of certain lines pressed upon their consideration by their friends, but were fearful of giving offence if they refused to include these works in the proposals for the future, and so left tfie unpleasant task to be performed by a Commission of their friends, the majoritv of whom will probably act in a manner that will be calculated to protect their patrons. If the Commission should be the means of putting an end to what have very aptly been termed political railways railways constructed for the purpose of pleasing friends and securing support—it will have achieved a vast amount of good ; but we fail to see how it can I e expected to bring about such a desirable consummation?" If Ministers were prepared to set aside any railway not favorably reported upon by the Commission, and would accept political annihilation rather than abandonment of a righteous determination only to make such lines as would show some probability of yielding immediate and adequate returns upon the sums spent upon them, there might be some hope of such a result being achieved. A3 it 13, wc fear that the Commission in this respect will be a failure, more especially when we take into consideration the "fact that political parties are not well defined, and that a majority of the House is composed of men who would ally themselves with any side in order to obtain attention to their "little demands." Unles3 both the Government and the House set their faces against the continuation of a line of action that has greatly militated against the success of our Public Works policy, and lamentably reduced the value of our railways as colonial assets, there can be little of only such lines being made as will yield an amount of profit commensurate with expenditure. It is, however, pleasing to be told, as the Minister for Public Work 3 ha 3 told us, that "the Government hope by meanß of the report of these Commissioners to be placed in a position to make proposals to Parliament for the prosecution of public works upon a plan carefuliv adapted to the circumstances of the Colony." But important as the duties of the Commission will be in regard to the railways to be constructed, they will be much more so in regard to the management of the linc3 already constructed. It is no secret—and indeed he gave free utterances to the opinion in his Public Works Statement—that Mr. Oliver is strongly in favor of keeping separate accounts for everv section of railway, with a view I to ascertaining how much each portion i of the lines contributes towards the interest upon the sum expended upon its construction. Speaking upon the subi jr-r.t, the Minister for Public Works said : •'Our efforts must now, therefore, be earnestly directed to the economical rnruiagi-mcnt of our railways, and, amongst other means, I think the keeping of the accounts of the various sections separate and distinct, so that it may be seen what each i 3 earning and spending, will have the good effect of arousing emulation among tho officers, as well as of showing on winch of the lines a different system of working should be adopted." If this means anything, it means that the railways are to be divided into sections, and separate accounts kept of the cost of working and the receipts from these sections, with a view to so arranging the tariffs that, every section Bhall bo made to return a fair amount of interest upon the cost of its construction. On the face of it, this pro-s»-en»B perfectly fair, provided that the .sections are made of suitable size, arid 'ha?, for instance, a comparatively level of line such as that between Oamarii arid Waikouniti is not-included in the mine section as tho heavy-graded portion of ti»e line from Waikouaiti to Dunedin. It i-i manifestly unfair that, because tho haulage over a portion o{ the line is exceedingly heavy, the rates chaygc4 PFPF,

the whole distance should be fixed at a uniformly high rate over the whole distance. It is also manifestly unfair that the same mileage rates should be charged between Oamaru and Christchurch as are charged between Oamaru and Dunedin. It will, we presume, be the duty of the Committee to recommend suitable, divisions of the lines into sections, with a view to the adoption of a tariff in harmony with the cost of working thein ; to show what has been the cost of forming each section, the amount of traffic over them, and the revenue necessary to be obtained in order that the interest upon the outly may fairly be realised. Uniformity of rates is out of the question when there is a wide difference in cost, and the Commission, if it is to be of any use, must be prepared to show a way of meeting the many difficulties to be encountered in making every section of the colonial railways give a fitting return on its own merits. While dividing the railways into sections, for the purposes of separate accounts, the Commission will have also to point out a means by which the various sections can be separately worked and distinct accounts kept between the several sections without entailing additional clerical assistance such as would increase the total cost of management. The chief objects that should be steadily kept in view are—economy of working and theobtainment of a fair return from every section. To accomplish this will be no mean task, and we do not envy the Commission the duty they have to perform inl this respect. We know that there will be some outcry in Dunedin against a proposal which will undoubtedly have the effect, if reduced to practice, of diverting a considerable amount of traffic from the metropolis, while it will probably prove beneficial to the northern towns, Oamaru amongst the number. Here we may remark that Mr. Oliver and his colleagues seem to have forseen this little difficulty, and have met it by not appointing a Dunedin man upon the Commission, preferring to seek an Otago representative from this district. This district has little to fear from the introduction of a system of separate accounts, provided that we are not to be burdened with a share of the maintenance of the expensive end of the line near Dunedin, and we certainly think that no set of reasonable men would dream of including in the Dunedin section of the line the comparatively inexpensive portion between Oamaru and Palmerston, the end of section included in the district under Mr. Hannay's management. Although, as we have.already said, we are far from satisfied with the constitution of the Commission, feeling convinced that it does not copipriso sufficient of the working of railways, we are satisfied that for the most part the gentlemen comprising it are men of sound sense, and foremost in this respect we must place Mr. John Reid, of Elderslie, who has been chosen to represent Otago. With him upon the Commission we can rest assured that not only will fair play be done to North Otago, but equal justice will be msted out to every section of the railways. Colonel Pearce, of Wellington, is also a clear-headed business man and of known integrity, and will bring to the Commission some amount of business acumen, though his knowledge of railway management may not be great. Of the others we can say nothing more than that they are strong Government supporters. We look forward to the results of the inquiries with a considerable amount of interest, added to a pardonable curiosity as to how their labors will be treated by Parliament.