THURSDAY, APRIL 16,1885.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1993, 16 April 1885, Page 2

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1885.

The success of the recent excursion trains Ji;is p'-oved to demonstration the .soundness of Mr Vaile's preaching and teaching. It is quite true that the principle of running cheap trains had been weighed in the balance and found to be up to the standard long before it ever occurred to Mr Vaile that he ought to assume the role of a reformer :

hut it would be, to say the least, ,vi ungracious proceeding to rob him of the credit due to him on that •iccount Englishmen are the most < onsen at i\e people on the face of the earth, and wherever they go, to now l,i nds or old lands, this conservative faculty of theirs attends them, and there is, perhaps nothing in which their peculiar characteristic is more apparent than in out- railway system. A railway director is, generally speaking, as firm I \ rooted to the traditional ideas of management as the oak is to the soil, while railway managers invariable present a breast of ad.imant to the on-coming wive of suggested improvements. But of course improvements and reforms h.ue, been steadily accomplished, ,hkl at the present day the English railway system is a monument of human skill and ingenuity But perfect as it may be, it by no me.ins follows that this system is adapted by the wants of a young colony, and the authorities in this country have made a mist, ike in supposing that it would. That is to say, they have made this mistake in the past : a new spirit has been infused into the management, tiul whether the praise belongs to Mr Vaile, or to Mr Richardson, or to Mr Maxwell, matters not .so much to the general public who den\ c the benefit, though it is but right that we should exhibit a proper spirit of gratitude. The authorities have got out of the old groove, but we trust they have not merely exchanged it for another. No groo\e is good enough to run in for any length of time. We trust rather that the department has abolished grooves, and that henceforth it intends to steer this way and that, according to the nature of the road. This kind of procedure would not answer in the case of the trains themselves, it is true, but the rules of management ought to be a little more elastic than the rails. In New Zealand, the railways have something else to do than to return interest on the cost of construction. Their primary object is to develop the resources of the colony. It was upon that understanding that the money was borrowed to make them, and upon no other. It is clear, therefore, that nothing but a liberal, progressive policy ought to obtain in respect of our railways. The present management is, we think, anxious to carry out such a policy, and no one in the world is likely to interpose to prevent it. We commenced by saying that the cheap excursions have proved a success. We mean by this, iirst, that the railway revenue ■was increased thereby, and, secondly, that a large number of people who had never used the lines to any appreciable extent before, have been induced to travel about, with the result, no doubt, that their eyes are more widely opened than they were before. But excursions are only excursions after all ; that is to say, they are only for holidaymakers, and generally come at holiday times. We would suggest to the Department the propriety of consulting the interests of onother the class of people — business people. There are many both in the large towns and in the country, who are by the present rather high rates debarred from travelling as much as they would like. Pro\ ision could be made for these people without altering the present rate of single fares (which may or may not be too high), by restoring the return-ticket system, in vogue some three or four years ago. We are aware of the fact that on the abolition of return tickets, the single fare was reduced, but we think the time has arrived when, without doing violence to the levenue, but rather with a fair prospect of increasing it considerably, the return tickets might be 1 estored.