LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9414, 7 April 1909, Page 8

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE RAILWAYS. SIR;~It is to be hoped the early future will see the practical necessity of inaugurating, a better system relative to the wo*king of the New Zealand railways. Tolerant as the people are apt to be it is an open secret that there is general dissatisfaction amongst the employees, irrespective of rank, and also amongst the travelling public, not forgetting, of course, tbe high rates business people have to pay jfor transport of goods, and which helps to make the buying of luxuries and necessities Vby the farmers ana workers heavier than they desire. Is this to coalmue? We may well ask. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped the OppositionJwill agitate in and out of the.Ho'tise for the purpose or removing the Department of Kailways permanently out of . Influence and placing its|administration under a Commissioner of Hallways subject;to Parliamentary control. By such action it would be safe for an employee to have a political opinion of hia own Wltl * o ™; getting the sack. For years |tms State Department has been worked as a political asset, engineered py the Minister for Hallways, and his obedient subordinates, irrespective of cost to the Dominion. The history and management o£ tne J>iew Zealand Railways is a etandmg disgraoe to tbe Govern ment. As long as prosperity has been with us the eyes of the people were blind and their ears deaf to the peculiar tactics of tbe Government, but now with a better organised Opposition they will be brought to their bearings and more so, because times _ahead of ns ara none too promising from an industrial point of view tor e^ er y man and woman who have tneir Jiving to make, and the sooner the oivil service vote is reduced to the paying abilities of the people the better, as the post of ruling the Dominion of New Zealand from His Excellency the Governor to the latest junior cadet, is far too much, and the sooner we keep on the sate side of the ledger the better for us financially and morally. Sound honest administration of laws exalt a people and instil into onr system of civilisation those virtues that are consistent with our time and intelligence, and the more we study ancient and' modern government k tne more we are impressed by the facta. No greater danger exists to the stability of the State than to return to the House men who are ledl by gross andjselfish desires rather than by a pure and honest standard. In the name of honesty, I call Upon.the Opposition to use their powers to sweep away all irregularities, all superfluous expenses, and, above all, to expose to Australasia the rottenness of this selfish, pernicious and reactionary Government, and upon the ashes of the past let us hope we shall witness a new life and purer ambitions on the part of the people of New Zealand. —I m, etc , 0. H. THOMSON.