The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1892.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3079, 9 April 1892, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1892.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

The fact was made abundantly manifest in the early days of the Ministry that they hankered after the political power which the control of the railways would give them, could they only succeed in ousting the Commissioners from the perch upon which Parliament has placed them. They have now determined in opposition to the opinion of the Commissioners to erect a large goods depot at Te Aro, a suburb of Wellington. Tho Commissioners say that the goods depdt is not required and that it will add greatly to the cost of working the railway, and that the existing station is adequate for all the requirements o£ the I traffic. This to our mind is clearly an usurpation of power in opposition 'to the Act appointing the ComI missioncr*. There can bo no que«-

tion but that Parliament has not abrogated the right to construct any Hues that it may deem advisable, but when those lines are constructed the Commissioners have the undoubted right to claim their management, and one clause in the Act clearly lays down that the authority rests in them to decide as to the placing of stations. The clause reads as follows : " The Commissioners shall be the authority to decide on the position, character and suitableness of the stations, station platforms." Numerous other works in conneetion with the railways are enumerated which it is unnecessary I to give, but amongst them are station yards and sheds. This interference with the Commissioners is a bid for popularity and is the first step towards dealing with our I Commissioners as has the Victorian Ministry with theirs—removed them from power altogether, not because

they were incompetent, but because the railways did not pay. They could not impute incompetence because the Chief Commissioner is a man who has established for himself a high reputation as a railway expert. The Commissioners say that so many unremunerative lines have been handed over to them that no other result could be looked for. These railways have been built for political purposes, and as the Commissioners had no power to veto or to offer an opinion, without subjecting themselves to liability to be snubbed, the fault is surely not theirs. It is instructive, however, to note that latterly the railways have bsen jointly managed by the Minister and the Commissioners, and that disaster has resulted, with little doubt owing in a great measure to political pressure having influenced the management, as it had formerly led to the construction of non-paying lines. Those whose memory carries them back to the initiatory stages of our railway policy can but regret that Sir J. Yogel was not allowed to give effect to his proposal to make the spending of any portion of the borrowed millions subject to the approval of a non-political Board. In that case we should not have had sections of railway dotted all over the colony, commencing at a town and ending in the wilderness ; and, as a natural sequitur, worked for years at a loss, or not worked at all. We have often had occasion to point to errors in working our railways by the Commissioners, but before this advent to power reference to our files will show that our complaints were no less frequent or less emphatic. Admitting that the Railway Commissioners are not working our lines satisfactorily, then by all means

remove them from power at the end of their term and appoint others. We are convinced that to return to the old system would lead to worse results than are likely to accrue from the management of Commissioners, even if ten times more incompetent than the present are charged with being by those who profess to have become experts by intuition, when in reality the majority are perfectly well aware that the object of their agitation has been to get their own boot made easy, utterly regardless of the corns of the rest of the population. There is another matter which should be kept fresh in the minds of the people, and that was the firmness of the Commissioners during the disastrous and foolish strike mania, and the severe criticism they were subjected to in consequence by Sir Robert Stout, ex-Premier and leading Radical politician. Had he been in power he would have pandered to the strikers for political purposes; at least he claimed for the railway servants the right to strike and immunity from punishment for so doing. This last fact should be sufficient argument to prove that indifferent Commissioners are infinitely preferable as managers of our railways to unscrupulous politicians. Again, when the question comes up for discussion, the fact must not be lost sight of that by reason of a man being returned to Parliament with a sufficient following in the House to justify his becoming a Minister, he does not at once become a competeut manager of railways, and if he did, party necessities would tend to make him depart from straight and follow 1 devious courses.