SELLING THE RAILWAYS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3040, 9 January 1892, Page 2

SELLING THE RAILWAYS.

REFKRRtNG again to the proposal to sell our railways to an English Company, the following is of interest, as bearing upon the question of the practical ntiliiy of restrictions ami conditions, when imposed by the authorities in the. interacts of the public. This refers t-i r-iilway ti riffs and general management, the lines-, of course, being ownm! by private corporations. The Now York correspondent nf the Sydney Mail says:—The railroad question is again coming prominently forward, and it is quite evident that the establishment of the InterState Commerce Commission is by no means a solution of it. The decisions against discrimination in the: tost case of the iSehigh Valley has been a;>pra!e.d from, but it will be years before the Supreme Court can reach the case ; and meanwhile nearly all the great roads are practically defying many of the rules laid down by the' Commission. But it is a physical impossibility for this one tribunal, consisting of only a few members, to hear all the eases ot complaint that are presented to it. When it was first organised, it was expected that the railroads would accept its verdicts as final, and would not attempt to nullify its authority by vexutiously multiplying particular instances of alleged injustice. Recently, however, this policy of overwhelming tho court with unnecessary litigation ha) been generally adopted, and Congress must sooii either abolish the Commission altogether or supplement it with an expensive system of subordinate tribunals.