THE RAILWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1919, Page 6

THE RAILWAYS.

There is no necessity whatever for a Royal Commission to discover what is the matter witli the New Zealand railway system. It is as plain as a pikestaff (il) that it is the worst-managed business in the community; (-2) that it is conducted on lines that would bring ruin and insolvency to any privatelymanaged concern. {",) that "its political and administrative heads have been deficient in capacity and foresight; (4) that instead, of being, as it should be, one of the most powerful factors in-pro-moting the prosperity and development of the country, this great department is hampering production in afl directions; and (a) unless it is promptly and radically reformed it will i;ost the taxpayers and producers millions of money instead of helping to create wealth a"id put money in their pockets. Nearly all the great business enterprises of the Dominion from the Union Steam Ship Co. down to any important manufacturing concern can show a remarkable development and expansion during (he last iive years. They did it in spite of the disabilities imposed by the war. When their men were taken away they found others ana utilised female labt»r.' When their material was commandeired they reached put for substitutes, and by resorting to all kinds of expedients they not only kept their businesses together but enormously increased their turnover. As a contrast, the Railway Department emerges from the war with its services ridiculously curtailed, with its customers driven away, its charges excessive, and its facilities for handling traffic as obsolete and as inadequate as when Mr Hiley made his famous report in 1914. Chriatchurch Sun.