Rangitikei Advocate. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9364, 5 February 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5,1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

THAT the administration of our railways is most unsatisfactory is generally admitted, but most people will be surprised by the enormous increase which has recently taken place in the staff. As the mileage of the lines increases it is natural that more men should be employed, hut we should not expect that the rate

of increase "of employees should much exceed the rate of increase of the length of line that has to be maintained , v and operated. Yet in 1905, counting all employees, there were four to Gach mile of open line, whereas ingl9o7 there were five. It is interesting to note that in 1893-4, the last complete year in which the Commissioners had charge of the lines, there were only about 3.3 employees to each mile of line. In Australia also far fewer men are employed than here, the number being only 3.36 per mile. Perhaps the fairest standard of comparison is the number of employees required per each train mile run. In 1905 there were 153 employees For every 100,000 miles run. Nest year the number had increased to 160, and by 1907 had become 174, It, therefore, seems quite evident that the railway service is over-manned and that one of the first steps Mr Millar should take is to prevent any further increase of hands and gradually to weed out those in the service who are not required.

A CABLEGRAM which was published yesterday reported the satisfactory intelligence that the labours of the South African Convention were practically completed, and that members were returning to their ' homes where they would explain to the public the work that had been accomplished by the representatives who bad been meeting in conference. Ten'years ago it seemed impossible that South Africa should ever form a united state unless the union was attained by throwing off British rnle and forming a Dutch republic. This danger has been happily averted and Dntch and British have met at the Conference, dropped old quarrels and worked heartily together to contrive a basis for the union of the four independent States which in the past have often been rivals rather than friends. Though the meetings have not been open to the press and no [reports of the discussions have been published it is well known that General Botha and ex-President Steyn of the Orange River Colony have been just as “anxious to promote union and quite as willing to make sacrifices in order to attain it as any of the delegates whose British birth might naturally have been expected to lead them to promote a scheme which is undoubtedly benefit of the whole Empire. The s^o °f the capital appears to have been a difficult question which has aroused very keen discussion, but it has seemingly been settled by a compromise which will make Capetown the seat of Parliament, and Pretoria the headquarters of the civil service. The arrangement is, of course, an inconvenient one, as during the session it will be necessary for Ministers to be constantly in touch with the officials connected with the various Departments, but it is infinitely better than risking the shipwreck of the whole scheme. The native question also bristles with difficulties as in Cape Colony, natives, who possess certain ' qualifications, are permitted to exercise the franchise, whereas in the other colonies they are treated as . , little better than beasts of burden. Still the statesmen at the head of the movement for closer union are sure to find some solution of the problem, and within twelve months'we may expect to see the birth of the new Federated South African State. Although in New Zealand we have wisely resolved to plough a lonely farrow and not to sink our identity in the Australian Commonwealth we can none the less sympathise with our fellow citizens in South Africa in their desire to join the white men in that continent in a united State, and we send across the sea onr hearty good wishes tor the prosperity of the new venture.