THE RAILWAY SERVICES.

Taihape Daily Times, 1 July 1919, Page 4

THE RAILWAY SERVICES.

Sir,—Abraham Lincoln^ 5 famous maxim, "Government of tl people, by the people, for the peopled seems to find its negation in the fsjnfmist ration J of the National Government. Its total disregard'of the people's interests has been manifested on many occasions but none more glaringly than in the case of the curtailment of the railway services. Like a bolt from the blue the .Department, by a drastic decision, cancels the most essential' services to the commercial; ; community ion the plea of shortage of coal. By that plea it at once places the imprimatur of truth the allegations, oft repeated, of its own incompetence and mal-adminis-tration. Why has not the* Railway Department, like shrewd private busi-> ness concerns, got a substantial reserve of its chief commodity—coal? Echo asks: Why? Again, let the Government answer these questions: Why did the railway management fail 'fo foresee this shortage? Were'they living in a fool's paradise, -oping that some- , thing for the better w r ould turn If, as the Minister says, the situation, has caused concern, for months past,, why were non-essential services not gradually reduced ? Why, too, is the Tutanekai allowed to take the gubernatorial party a joy ride round the Pacific, w r hen the people, the common people in-the cities, are spending cold, fireless nights? Why did the. State miners have to declare 5000 tons of Greymouth coal "black" to prevent it going out of the country? Was it the Government's desire to break the strike in Australia? Why are the bins and trucks at Greymouth full up for want of shipping? Are the Government in league with the Union Company w-hich desires 'the Australian strike broken? Or is the Minister of Railways, who desires to 'dish" 'the railwaynten V claims for better conditions and higher wages "Perhaps, ' -sir, we ' will be enlightened on these subjects w>hen the NaMonal Government comes before the electors in an effort to secure a return to power—-a power which in the past, the people of New-. Zealand never them. —I am, etc., 1:1 .*■>•• J. T. P.