The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1881.

Temuka Leader, Issue 807, 29 December 1881, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1881.

It is evidently useless to hope that our railways wbl be ever managed in either a judicious or business-like manner. W hereever there is railway communication it is the same story, the inconveniences, and annoyances to which people are subjected through the stupid and blundering manner in’ which railways are managed, is a topic for convei'sation. There is no doubt that there is often good grounds for complaint. Recently a certain man in a certain town, who expected a truck-load of coal inquired at the station whether it had arrived, and was told that it had not. The c«al arrived after he left the station that evening, and when he called on the following day he was told he would have to pay £1 for having allowedlit to remaining the truck over night. The man refused this, and ordered the coal to be sent back to where it had come from unless it was delivered to him free of any storage charges. Subsequently he gained bis point, and he was allowed to take [ away the coal on the terms proposed by himself. Another instance is that in which a brewer found a charge of 5s 9d made on an empty 18-gallon cask which had come to him from a distance of about 100 miles. He refused to pay on the ground that the charge was exorbitant, and that the cask was not worth the money. After a good deal of argument he was allowed to take it away on payment of 9d. Now, in the name of common sense, what sort of a way is this fur such an institution as a railway to be managed 1 In the first place, why were those charges made if they were not right? and, in the second place, if they were right, why did not the tail way authorities insist upon being paid 1 It is almost impossible to believe that such laxity exists in the management of our railways. We confess wo hesitated to believe that such things occurred, until assured most reliably that what we have stated above were facts. We are told, also that there are people in this town who are carting their goods to and from Timaru, as they find that way cheaper than to send them by railway. A flock of about 7000 sheep wore about a week ago driven from near the Rangitata to the Clutha, where the buyer of them resides. The expense of driving these sheep must have been great, and yet it was found much cheaper than to send them by rail. There can be no doubt that the owner of these sheep would rather have paid a good deal more for them by rail than it actually cost him to employ men and horses for weeks to drive them across the country such a long distance, and that if the railway charges were at all reasonable lie would have availed himself of the more expeditious way of takin ' them. In this instance the railway authorities would have done well to relax the oast-iron regulations which were shown to be so flexible in the cases above stated. They should consider the matter in a business-like way, and charge what would pay the railway profitably. There is no merchant, or man of business, who would not grant concessions to any man giving him a large order, and we think that the railways might be managed in the commonsense, practical way in which private enterprises are carried on. If the railway took these sheep at a price which would pay, the revenue would be increased by so much, and the owner of the sheep would have sustained no loss, as he had to pay men and horses for driving the sheep. But, as it is, no one gains by the transaction, except the men employed to drive the sheep, and they might be employed more profitably to the | colony and to themselves in some other pursuit of life. It is not want of a sufficient number of officers that is the cause of all this mismanagement. Wo have general managers, and traffic managers ; and district managers, and district sta-tion-masters and inspectors, and so many officials with high sounding titles, that one gets bewildered at what they are all doing. And yet a pretty mess they generally succeed in making of it. The way they manage things is a verification of the old adage which says that “ too many cooks spoils the broth,” and we think it is high time that our railways should be looked after better by onr representatives. Mr Turnbull at the hustings inTunaru advocated the appointment of a Minister of Railways, who would be responsible to the House and to his constituents for his conduct. We think the suggestion a very good one, and that there would be no harm in trying it, but, for our own part, we would leather see the railways placed under the direct control of a non-political board, its members to be elected by the people of the colony. On such a body of men no political influence could be brought to bear to favor one part of the colony more than another, and they could have only one object in view—that is, the working of the railways profitably but economically. At present there is no doubt that political reasons have very j much to do with the management of our

railways. Any one doubting this assertion will find a verification of it in a letter received last year by the Ashburton County Council al the time of the agitation for a reduction of the grain tariff. In that letter it was said that certain political reasons were involved which rendered it impossible to comply with some of the the concessions asked by the Council. Why politics should influence the management of railways we cannot understand, but as such is the case we think that to give the control of them to a board entirely unfettered by such influences would be the most likely way of having them properly managed.