The Sun. FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1928. A RAILWAY DICTATOR?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 345, 4 May 1928, Page 8

The Sun. FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1928. A RAILWAY DICTATOR?

THE old saying that two heads are better than one, though they he merely sheep’s heads, apparently is not applicable to New Zealand railway administration. Indeed, even in the proportion of three to one, it does not apply. The latest change in the Government’s policy affords the proof. It has been announced by the Rt. lion. J. G. Coates, as Minister of Railways as well as Prime Minister, that some very important changes in the present system of management are to be brought into operation at the end of this month. These include the anticipated abolition of the Railways Board in favour of the appointment of a general manager. The Government’s decision represents a drastic change after three years of an expensive experiment. It suggests evidential proof of one of two possible facts: either the retiring members of the board have been mediocre as a combination of administrative talent, or that Mr. H. H. Sterling, a former colleague, is exceedingly superior. He is to assume the position of general manager within a few weeks and, in all practical matters of railways administration, become the supreme authority, almost presumably a dictator. There must have been some very pressing reasons for this reversion to the old system of control. When the Railways Board of Management was first established with a fanfaronade of political hope and blessing, the country was encouraged to believe that the long day of a dawdling policy was at last about to pass and that the service, running no more on Rafferty rules, soon would enter a new era of efficient business. Of course, it cannot be gainsaid that, under the board’s management, the railways system, as a whole, has been improved almost beyond all recognition, but evidently the improvement has not yet been enough to make the service pay, as is demanded from every kind and form of commercial business, well organised and managed by experts. Railway business has been pursued with unwonted zeal and zest, and even with an exercise of initiative and efficiency, but somehow profit has been elusive. Indeed, the persistent financial loss has been depressing, if not yet disquieting. Has there not been querulous talk of a yearly deficit running close to a million pounds sterling? This estimate, however, the Prime Minister refuses to confirm. Now, the service is to go forward on the principle of making progress backward in the sense that a form of control which was condemned as ineffective and almost obsolete in 1925 is to be revived, apparently as a desperate need, else why the urgent plea for Mr. Sterling to be released from bis position in the administrative service of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company? If it be true that Mr. Sterling will have a great responsibility thrust upon him, it is no less true that lie has to his hands and head a great opportunity to prove his ability. As things are, it seems that only a Heaven-sent genius could raise the railways service out of its financial rut. His task is not an enviable one. To begin with, tremendous expenditure is required to bring the whole system up to modern transport requirements, and it cannot be guaranteed that, even after a king’s ransom has been spent on new rolling stock, plant, buildings, and on everything connected with the service, the public will travel by rail, if first-class highways be available for motoring. II Duce himself might be excused for hesitancy about assuming the role of a railway dictator in a land inflicted with narrow-gauge tracks.