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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2428, 29 December 1880, Page 2

No public department lias lately undergone so many radical alterations as tjie Railway Department, yet it seems as far

from pefection as ever. Serious cases of squadding ami insubordination are constancy cropping up. The public have unfortunately to pay smartly for the poo| carcase which the officers and their sjbordinatea are lighting over. To-day|some revelations were made before jio Timaru Bench which go far to shote that the railway family is the reverseif a happy one. A station master who h|l been suspended for alleged irregularities in his books, being prosecuted fir threatening “ to be the death of the tenoral Traffic Manager” pleaded in justlication that he had been subjected to the surveillance of a private detective belonging to the department. If this statement is correct, the department r mnst either be in a bad state tr it must be suffering from frightfil mismanagement. If the railway lites cannot be worked without the service: of special detectives the sooner they ai leased the better. Wc are not a part if the Russian Empire, and our railways are in no danger from Nihilists or nitroglycerine. Why then, in addition to their ordinary burdens, are they saddlet with detectives? Are the habits of the officers so pccnlant that a keen and ctnstant watch must be kept on their movements ? If so, the sooner the department is thoroughly cleaned out the better. A public department that is tilled vith rogues and vagabonds to such at extent that a detective must be specialy employed in connection with it, is a disgrace to the Government and the conmnnity. This is the first time in our experience that we have heard of a railway detective earning a living in British Colony. The late Secretary of the Telegraph Department was severely condemned for forwarding persecuting circulars in advance of dismissed operatives with the view of depriving them of an honest livelihood* but the subjecting of railway officers to the tender mercies of a special detective out-llerod’s Herod. If the allegation is true the sooner honest men who desire to consult their safety quit their connection with a tainted and criminal department the better. The existence of the railway detective is a direct menace to honest servants, fur by fair means or foul he is bound to make work for himself ; and on the other hand if the officers of our railways are so untrustworthy that a detective has to be hired to keep a surveillance over their movements, then the sooner the present staff is cleared out, root and branch, the better for our credit. The colony can hardly ho so full of thieves and swindlers that a few honest men cannot be procured to work our railways.