RAILWAY REFORM LEAGUE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 476, 31 May 1890, Page 4

RAILWAY REFORM LEAGUE.

ADOPTION OF THE REPORT. Auckland, May 24. The general meeting of members of the Railway Reform League, held yesterday afternoon, was very poorly attended, only about a dozen members being present. Captain W. C. Daldy occupied the chair. The report of the Executive Committee, of which a summary was given in our last issue, was read by Mr C. D. Whitcombe, Secretary, and Mr A. Bell moved its adoption. He said it was quite evident that the League had gone as far as possible with the Railway Commissioners pending the bringing to bear upon them of some influence by the Government, Many members of the Parliamentry Committee were in favour of Mr Vaile’s scheme and they recommended its trial, bub so far there had been nothing done. The only thing now left for the League to do was to gall a public meeting with the view of taking sqme steps to influence the Government in favour of their views. Tho stage system wqs no\y attracting considerable attention in IJungayy and in Germany, but nearer home NJr yaile’s sghetpp had been treated very shabbily. Re rpoved the adopr bion of the report as read. The Chairman, in seconding the adoption of the report, said he looked upon the proposed railway reform as a most important link in the great sooial reforms going on in the world, independent altogether of the monetary question. Whether New Zealand took the lead or nob, he felt that this scheme would be adopted throughout the world, and would come to this colony whether they liked it or not.

Mr J. I*. Duncan recognised this as a matler of great national importance, and he was astonished that the matter had not been more actively taken up by the public and by their representatives in Parliament.

Mr Jas. Knox thought the correctness and soundness of Mr Vaile's scheme had been threshed out ad nauseam, buttheobject of the meeting was to bring influence to bear upon the Government to bring about some recognition of the scheme and some practical result. Mr S. Vaile said the first step desirable was to get rid of the Act of 1887. Throughout the colony the people were dissatisfied with the existing system. Hungary had adopted a stage system instead of a mileage system. It had been applied in Spain, the Government of Aus-! bria were proposing to adopt it, and the German Government were making inquiries \yith the view tp the adoption of tlie system proposed by the League: Mr T> Thpmpsp'n, M.Jf.R., said his impression of blip reason >yhy the ISB7 Railway E?ill was iqtpqdpced \yas to pemoye thp management from under Government control, and bo place it under an independent Board. The appointmenbof Mr Maxwell as a member of that Board was a breach of faith. He (Mr Thompson) had done all in his power to have a trial given to Mr Vaile’s scheme, bub without success, and he voted against the Bill for that reason alone. He had gone carefully through the petition proposed by the Executive Committee, and would have great pleasure in giving his utmost support to it in the House of Repre sentatires.

The motion for adoption of the report was agreed to unanimously. Information concerning the working of the “Zone’’ system on the Hungarian State railways was read. Mr Vailo stated that the Hungarian management under the new system had not in any way increased their working expenses, but had yet obtained such an increase of the traffic that they had had to order eight hundred new cars. Mr Knox moved the following resolution, which was seconded by Mr Bell and adopted : the League be amended as follows : That instead-of'a quorum of ten being required to constitute a ’ nfeeting "of the General

Committee, in future seven members of the General Committee shall constitute a quorum ; and, whereas rule 3 empowers tho formation of an Executive Committee of. five members only, the Executive Committee be hereby authorised to add two members to its members.”

The Chairman said that in order to carry on t lie objects of the League, there was required both financial support and the suppoit derivable from public sympathy. This concluded the meeting.