THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, NOVEMBER. 20, 1892. THE RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2431, 29 November 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader TUESDAY, NOVEMBER. 20, 1892. THE RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.

That pretentious, but insignificant, body which styles itself the National Association of New Zealand, but which consists only of a few old fogeys of Auckland who are opposed to the present Government, have complained to the Premier that Mr Seddon is interfering with the Railway Commissioners. They say that the Commissioners are responsible to Parliament only, and that nothing should be said about them outside the walls of Parliament. That is really very good ; delicious, in fact. These three public servants are to be regarded as sacred as Benares monkeys, and whatever pranks they may play they must not be criticised. We do not anticipate that Mr Seddon will, get any very severe wigging from Mr Ballance; we do not believe that Mr Seddon will regard it as improper for Mr Seddon to give the country the benefit of his special knowledge as regards the management of the department over which he ought to have some control. But the fact is, the discussion began in Parliament. On several occasions during the last session Mr Seddon was asked questions relating to the railways, but he could not answer them as the Commissioners refused to supply him with the information. That really is a nice state of aflairs. Responsible to Parliament only. Why they have snubbed Parliament frequently, and practically told it to mind its own business. These Commissioners apparently do not recognise i the right of Parliament to interfere with them, and that is what has brought upon them the ire of so many members. In his Public Works Statement Mr Seddon showed that the Commissioners were not managing economically; to this the Commissioners have replied through the 'diiiin of the newspapers, and Mr d’i Other statements in oeudon has rna. ~ r,|>lj ,o theirs. The _ fact, is a continuation of what occu. in Parliament, and surely Mr Seddon has as good a right to have his say as the Commissioners. And now let us just look at tins from a common-sense point of view. We have had four years’ management by the Commissioners now, and we want to know in what respect are we the better for it? The population has increased, and so has the traffic, but the net earnings, which go to pay interest on capital, I s l ess - That is not satisfactory. As regards the strikes, who drove the railway servants to form a trades-union ? Undoubtedly the Commissioners. They tried to force the railway servants to submit to a most iniquitous insurance scheme, and, in self-defence they (the railway servants) formed a union to protect themselves. There was no trades-union before it was brought into existence by the tyranny of the Commissioners, and yet they are praised now for the splendid stand they took at the time of the strike. Then they sent Home an order for £uo,ooo worth of railway material which could easily have been made in the colony, and they turn round shortly afterwards and dismiss hundreds of men out of their own workshops for want of employment. Jt is said that the object is to throw as many men as possible out of employment. The Opposition asserted that the Land and Income Tax would have the effect of throwing men out of employment, and the dismissal of the railway servants is a part of the plot

to prove that this is true. The ■ Opposition are deluding themselves with the hope that if men are out of employment they will turn round on the Government next election. This is what people think, at any rate. But the point is : Why should these commissioners have power to order £50,000 worth of material from Home? They do not find the money; it has to be passed by Parliament, and surely Parliament ought to have some control over it. It is simply monstrous that Parliament should have to vote money and yet have no control as to how it should be expended. It is opposed to every tradition of democratic government. Let us see how private shareholders manage private railways. Do they hand them over to commissioners ? They certainly do not. They appoint a board of directors, and these manage the concern. This is so in every enterprise one can think of, and why therefore should not the people of this colony work on the same principle. The people of this colony are the shareholders of the railways; their representatives in Parliament ought to be their board of directors, and their chief manager ought to be the Minister for Public Works. But Mr Seddon does not want so much power as this. He simply wants, according to the Bill of last session, to have the power to veto such acts of the Commissioners as he should think detrimental to public interest. That is all he seeks, and that he has a right to have. It is said that if the railways were under political influences the service would soon be crowded with the friends of politicians. To this we answer there is the Post Office; the Police: the Civil Service; and the other departments which employ labor, and are they overcrowded ? Despite all political influence has not there been a most severe and drastic retrenchment in every department, and why then should the railways be an exception ? If there is danger of the railways being overcrowded, then there is equal danger of every public department, as all of them should be placed under the management of Commissioners. But we all know that the support which is being accorded to the Commissioners now does not proceed from any love of them, but, on the contrary, from hatred of the Liberal Party. The very men who are supporting the Commissioners would have been loudest in denouncing them, only for the fact that they think they see in them a means to inflict some injury on the Government. But, as we have shown in a previous article, these Commissioners were fraudulently imposed upon the people; and consequently they will never succeed in inspiring confidence. It is therefore true that the people as a whole are glad their terra of office is drawing to a close, so that other arrangements may be made, and the Conservatives are mistaken in thinking that they will improve their position by backing up the Commissioners.