The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1912. THE RAILWAY POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 138, 29 October 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1912. THE RAILWAY POLICY.

Taranaki was not the only disappointed province on Friday, when a representative deputation waited upon the Minister for Public Works with reference to the West Coast railway line. On the same day our neighbors from the East Coast also met the Minister with a protest against the cessation of work upon the Napier-Gisborne line, and were turned down even more emphatically. We are not, at the moment, concerned with the merits of the two lines, although it is well to remember that our own particu-lar-line has the enthusiastic backing of a special commission, appointed by the Government, which went most exhaustively into the requirements of the district and the possibilities of the railway, arriving at a unanimous conclusion that the round the Mountain line was badly wanted, would open up a wide area of profitable country, and would almost certainly more than pay maintenance and interest on the cost of construction from the moment of completion. What we are concerned with is the general attitude of the Minister in the matter of railway construction, and we must admit, frankly, that the Minister has logic and common-sense on liis side. He cries a poor mouth, but this is necessitated by the state of the public purse. Singular as it may seem, it costs money to build railways, and Mr. Fraser openly admits that there is not sufficient money in the Treasury or in prospect to pay one tithe of the demands that are being made in the Dominion for railway extension, and that he has no option expept to at once commence a policy of vigorous discrimination. Speaking to the Napier deputation, Mr. Fraser expressed his regret at having to temporarily stop the works, but, as in our own case, he intimated that there was no intention of abandoning the line, but it was simply postponed until such time as the public purse would admit of a more vigorous prosecution. He cannot be blamed for this attitude, which has been forced upon him, and, on the other hand, he deserves nothing but praise for his open statement that "lie believed that roads were more important in a young country than railways," and that, therefore, "it had been his endeavor to frame his estimates so that he would have as much money for roads and bridges as they had in the previous year. That being so he had had to cut down in the direction of railways." Taranaki, at any rate, will not quarrel with this sensible conclusion. The Minister proceeded to explain that at present there were no fewer than 23 separate sections of railway in process of construction in New Zealand, and at least ten of these would have to be stopped in the meantime. Mr. Fraser added that there was no doubt our railways were costing us more than was necessary, because of money being spent on them in small dribbling sums, which was a wasteful way of carrying on public works. The method could not be altered all at once, but he hoped before long to be doing the work in a

better way. He expressed a quite legiti-

mate objection to loading the Estimates with votes that he knew could never be spent. He was dependent for funds upon the £1,750,000 yet to be raised, and if there was a delay of six or eight months it meant that the amounts on the Estimates could not be spent, as half of the money would not be available; and the Cabinet lad no intention of running recklessly into debt. Under these circumstances, of course, it becomes obvious that we, in common with other parts of the Dominion, must possess our souls in patience until such time as the Minister can redeem the promises he has made, promises in which we have all the more faith on account of his present attitude of transparent honesty. We shall be all the more content to do this if he carries out his obligations to pay a good deal more attention to our backblock roads than has been devoted to tihem in the past.