CURRENT TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 221, 24 January 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS

PITY THE SHUNTER. There has been a good deal written and spoken lately about the danger to the public at some railroad level-crossings, and everyone who thinks about the matter at all knows that New Zealand is hopelessly behind every other country on earth in some railway matters. It is a comparatively easy matter to make level crossings safe either by the common system of loud alarms set in operation by an oncoming engine or the simple device of automatic bars which by falling warn the public that an engine is coming. There have been a number of deaths at level crossings in New Zealand, but it may be doubted if the toll is as heavy as of shunters killed at work. A gentleman who is connected with the railway work in Christchurch states that of all the officers of the service the shunter has the worst position. "The shunter," he says, ''sometimes starts at 1 a.m. and works on till nine o'clock in the morning, in the mud and slush, without cover from the wind and rain. The risks taken by a shunter are something terrible. They are largely enhanced on , frosty nights, when a slip while shifting points would probably cost him a limb or even his life. I would not be a shunter for £1 a day." Dr. Thackcr is still championing the shunter's cause. He describes the shunter as an over-worked, under-paid and badly treated servant of the public. Just now, Dr. Thacker is indignant because the Department does not give all shunters free passes on the Lyt-telton-Christchureh line to enable them to attend their annual picnic in one of the bays at Lyttelton Harbor. He urges that each shunter should be given a free pass for the occasion, and that the picnic luggage, the band, and other requisites for tne day's enjoyment, should also be carried free, as a small atonement for the injustice under which, he is convinced, the shunter has to labor. STILL THE MOTOR CAR. Since this paper directed attention to the dangerous speed at which some motor cars are driven in New Plymouth and the vicinity we have received' many confirmations from various people, who have narrowly escaped accident, and as in law the foot passenger has prior right of way on public roads—as distinct from public footpaths—it is hoped that those who agree with our readers may assist m fighting the road-hog. One gentleman who uses a car daily, while agreeing utterly that many cars driven bv reck' loss motorists are a constant dan-rer made one point that should not he overlooked. Although the general walkin" public has first right on the King's h\«\l way, it should be a veritable "walkim*" public, and it is as reasonable that the foot passenger should not he a menace to the driver of a vehicle as it is that a vehicle should not endanger the dismounted citizen. A collision was narrowly averted between two motor cars on Saturday. One ear was being driven rapidly through a crowded street and did not slacken as it swept round the corner. The other car was being taken slowly and only by superior craft was the driver of the slow car able to avoid « smash It is complained that New Plymouth people are too fond of congregating in little or large mobs in the centre of •treet intersections, and that a certain religious body selects a place for the exercise of devotions that makes the spot dangerous to drivers of vehicles. As 10 is only on Saturdays that there is any congestion in the streets of the town it would not be a heavy task for the constables on street duty to keep the crowd on the move. This precaution would lessen the anxiety of motorists and the drivers of horsed vehicles considerably. We have not the least doubt that the scorching motorist will be ellcetivelv dealt with if the public as a bodv re-en't his insolent disregard of the comfort and Hafcty of the people, but the walkinpublic should assist by its own conduct to render the possibility of accident at street corners remote.

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS. An insight into the remarkable management of the Russian State-owned railways was given us in a cable message dealing with wholesale defalcations of corrupt officials in all grades of the service. Russian railways have of late occupied a good deal of attention, and they are well worthy of a close study. In the Russian Budget for 1010, it was disclosed that the gross revenue from the railways for the vear was estimated at £60,000,000. Apparently a successful year, but in reality it represented an annual loss of 'from £5.000,000 to .£10,000,000 and over. Working expenses were nearly £50,000.000. the total expenditure for the vear approachhi" £00,000.000, and accounting for payments from private companies, the net revenue was £2,200,000. From this had to belaid the interest on a railway loan totalling the huge sum of l'oil0,0ll(),ilii!. or half the whole national debt. Among the items appears the Amur railwav! estimated to cost CISJOo.OOO, Wlmt it will ultimately cost, or whether it will ever be tinUhed, arc questions that few can answer. It was commenced in 1'.107 by the Minister of Communications, General Schaufuss, who chose a route which most authorities, including his own engineers, knew to be impracticable. The Duma was not consulted. Two millions have now been spent on the work, an I so far the actual cost per versj, instead of being near the estimated cost of £•1.0,000, lias been, at a modern;, timato, £20,000. The route was surveyed in mid-winter, and no information wa = gained as to the water supply. It is now found that on long stretches there ] is no water at all, the'eountry in parts I is absolutely barren, and in places is froz- I en bard even in miil-sunimer. Labor is j very scarce, and naturally s () , when the men complain that they are -windled | of as much as half their pay. Some of i the newspapers, according to the West-■ minster Gazette, declare "that the engin-ecr-in-chief is a. skilled musician, nut en- | tirely ignorant of railway construction.] All his assistants are chosen because tbey j can play various instruments, and thus fit into the orchestra, which is the en- | ginccr's main interest in life/' '