The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1887 A BETTER PROVISION FOR RAILWAYS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2758, 25 November 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1887 A BETTER PROVISION FOR RAILWAYS.

At last the Government Railway Bill has been- printed, and we aro face to face with railway reform. The old theory that a Colonial Government car. manago railways as well as anybody else is now exploded. Successive Ministers of Public Works have tried to make our railways a success, and have failed. Stoutly they have maintained that all that could be done has ken accomplished, but tho stem logic ot facts has been dead against them. The experience of the Victorian Board hus demonstrated the folly of a political management,.and tho results of the enterprising efforts of the Wellington and Manawatirliailwny Company show that in questions of management a private Board of Control beats a Government bureau "hands down," The new Bill is aptly called a measure to make a " better provision for the maintenance and niiinatiemcnt of-rail-ways," This is an exceedingly lioiifst title, admitting as it does lho inferior provision for maintenance and management which now obtains, It is proposed that three commissioners shall be appointed for a period of five years, who shall have within all reasonable limits absolute control- over the railways, We like this provision, for. unless the commissioners aro few in number and strong in action, they cannot convert an unprofitable railway system into a paying enterprise. We can fancy threo picked men, not appointed by the House for party pur-' poses, but selected by the Governor' in Council for their capacity' and fitness for the woik, putting things to rights, stopping the legion of loafers now constantly travelling about the colonv with free parses, turning dead-beads, by the thousand out of the taxpayer' railway carriages, knocking oil' unprofitable trains which aro run to oblige influential person.-*, and cutting out generally the gigantic cancer which eats into our railway receipts on all sides. Ample powers are given in the Bill to enable Commissioners to do all this, and no one can doubt but that they will do it. The member who obstructs this Bill will be an enemy to the Colony. We do not.know if any return is kept of the thousands of free passes which are annually granted on New Zealand railways. It would be a delicate question for any M.H.R. with the free pass decoration dangling at his button-hole to refer to, but wo do know that the number is much greater than than the public are generally aware of, and that startling revelations could be made on Ibis head. It is within our k.iowklgo (hat a considerable number of persons in the community regard the railways'nierely as conveniences for free travelling, and while this monstrous state of things exists how on earth can any Minister of public works make railways reproductive. Formerly it was thought that the tree passes granted to the ; Press of the Colony were,nscandal, and we, though we profited by.the

privilege, felt as keenly as anybody that the issue of such passes was a; robbery of the public estate; Press passes were cancelled some three years ago but all other abominations in the way of dispoiling the revenue oftho department by' Ministers, by legislators, by civil servants, by the friends of niinistors, Hy the frieuds of legist la tors, and by the friends of civil mvants haue been maintained in full vigor, nnd the only wonder is that the department has stood the pressure to' which it has been subjected. If now ;the House passes the proposed measure for the better management of our railways all these scandalous practices will be speedily 'swept away, and an, honest and capable administration of our lines will relieve;the tax-payers of the Colony. This Bill, on the principle that economy is an income, will prove a large measuro of retrenchment,

The New South Wales Parliament lias by n ]ar?o majority decided to change tho name of that Colony to " Australia," We think other Colonies ought to sympathise with this proposal. The name of New South Wales i« historically linked with the life, death, and now the burial of a penal settlement, It is a somewhat title with disagr cable association connected with it, which will disappear with tho introduction of tho newor and more euphonious title of "Australia*" Whoever suggested tho change of name doBerves credit. It is a happy; thought for a great colony to enter upon a bright and prosperous futuro under a name which does not recall tho misery and degradation which: it has Ion? ago outgrown.