THE MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7725, 19 February 1909, Page 2

THE MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS.

INTERVIEW .WITH HONi J. A\ MILLAR; ' A

THE DEPARTMENTAL POLICY.

The Hon. J. A.'Millar, Minister for Railways arid iUtfViiiei who passed through Aithtyirtop hy itie,first uxyress this morning," wits niter\?i«'nved .<l>y-*.a Guardian representative between Ba's kaia and,. Hinds, and gave an interesting ' statement concerning the railway policy of the immediate future. Mr Millar prefaced his remarks by stating that he was taking a living run over the whole of the railway lines cf the dominion iii order to iimke himself acquainted with the.different sections as f»r «* «s coiild m the limited time at ills disposal. $U&tkJiis wet's continually cropping up 111 . different parts of the dominion ln^regaM to railway icconiqiojlatio^, <wt>vithdut sohlS slight.personal, knowledge «t tKe dM? trict.it wits impossible, for him to., say; - .whether it was or was -not necessary to Irani reqiiests: He had practicaliX completed his-inspection of fho nortfo crn lines, with the exception .of • tho Napier section, which Jie v.-flujd ctq on i his return.! He proposed;. <joM»r ;")'■•• to Im'fel'cai'Kitl at nit early dnio-, ■*»<* altta doing tho lir.es m Otago and Sbuthland, he intended to return to Chnsfcchurch..in tho first week m March. He would go over the whole of the branch lines there, and after that leave for Greymouth, via Otira, visiting the tunnel works en route. The West Coast lines would be inspected, and a run over the Kelson and Ficton-Blenheim sections would complete, the tour. He expected to bo, engaged, for three ' weeks on hi.3 toil!-.of inspection; , vital cdJtsiDEiiATidJfS: I In reply to a leading question mto his policy as head cf, the .Railways Department, the Minister said: - "Gwin<* to the enormous develop- ! ment of the railways, the amount ex- | ponded every year is steadily increasing- and the revenue likewise, ims year tho latter ' will reach close on £3,000,000, but the expenditure also will be very large. 1 want to see it 1 cannot make the railways earn their own interest. They have not done so m tho-past; 3 per .cent having been the maximum. I wish to do this, too,, without, if possible, increasing the charges. I think that this is quite possible. One reason for this is the opening of 'the North Island Mam Trunk line between Auckland and Wellington, " which means that througn traffic between these cities will probably bo carried on with a considerable saving m working exi-euscs, owing to our ability to new work the rolling stock^to- the fullest advantage. Working from two dead ends of necessity compelled a cevtain. amount of rolling stock to lie idle, whereas now wears enabled \to make a train up m Wellington or Auckland with the same rolling stock m motion all the time* The engines can now make a full day s run, as can be seen .when I tell you . that it is expected that the through trip (Auckland to Wellington, and vice versa, —430 miles) will be divided amongst only four engines, instead ot them having, as previously, shorter runs and considerable periods of waiting time. Then, the new engines which are being built are proving themselves most effective, and their greater traction power enables, them to take much larger trains; a train which • formerly required two engines can tiovt be drawn by one. . A LOAN IN VIEW: "Complaints arc sometimes made about heavy expenditure m regard to our railways, but m the interests tif the safety of the travelling public it is only right that tho most approved methods of safe train running should be adopted, and for this purpose interlocking and signalling gear is being _ fitted at all the principal stations, and the tablet system is also being placed on all the main lines. These systems are expensive to instal, and entail heavy annual expenditure, as every tablet ■ system established means ■ at least one extra man, and m cases where the traffic is heavy two men, permanently employed, while the- interlocking and signalling gear necessitates signal boxes m most instances at both ends of the station yards, "which, m turn entails permanent employment to more signalmen. This work is^expeeted by many speakers and writers to be done-out cf revenue, but it can't be and it lias no right to be; and, m '. fact, there is only one way iir which it jean be done, and that's'by the^inI crease of the rates. It scorns hardly fair to charge the present users of the railways with" all that expenditure, leaving future generations with fully equipped lines free of cost. A certain amount of borrowed money will be absolutely necessary, not for the maintenance of the permanent way, which should be done entirely out cf revenue, but for the purpose of new equipments, which,- to my mind, are a fair charge against the future; "At the present time we are relaying over 100 miles a year of our main tracks with 701 b steel rails, m lieu of the 501 b rails now m use, and m turn those 501 b rails are being laid on branch lines where 40's were formerly m use. Thus both main and branch lines are being very greatly improved. AH tins is being done out of revenue. THE MINISTER'S POLICY. "My policy will be to'give the greatest facilities possible to the travelling public, without ■inijyi.irh]"- our - revenue, which cannot be further reduced at present, owing to the very large concessions which have already been granted to users. Yes; no more concessions are to be made. One must wait and see what revenue comcj, from the new lines opened before he can consider any further reductions. As an alteration of the classification of any class of goods affects the whole of the ! dominion it is inadvisable at present to make any alterations. ! "There have been certain trains running which experience has thown <£ be not necessary for the requirements cf the districts concerned, and where this has been found to bo the case lor a considerable period, and where heavy loss has been incurred, they have been stopped, or will be ■ (stopped; mihe near future." A LOCAL INSTANCE. "Can you give a local example," suggested the reporter. " Yes; you have a local instance m the Methven line," Mr Millar replied: 1 On this branch an extra train was put on time ago on trial. It was found that on the whole section there, was an absolute; loss, not alone on that train, but takiiig the total voiume of trade by all trains, it Vaa therefore clear that there could be nonecessity for running an extra train when the previously existing number of trains, (one each way) could not get I sufficient- trade for the line to pay. Yes; -I moan to 6ay that, .-i. the present _ time, without the.c.vfiu (ruin, the ; »er.vipe does not pay.; Oi -course, - I'm not suggesting that.because of this the existing train will be stopped, because I am quite- aware that there are sections which have to bo run m con--1 nection with other linos, which m themselves do not pay. The- trains on such sections will still be run, but at tho same time no extras will be" out on. No valid reason can be given for extras m such cases. One has totake the total results m a line. For instance, supposing eight trains a cay ~ are run on a branch line, 'and that the total revenue of these eight trains lor the > twelve months should be taken against the total expenditure incurred m running them, and that they showed a debit balance at the end of the year, wo would not be justified m increasing the number of trains on that branch;" ' whereas, on the other hand-, if it wcib shown that the existing trains could hot cope.with thu existing trade-, it would be the Department's duty to } ut on extras. CA'CANNY. "However, lam going to watch things -■ for 12 mouths before making any reductions. The only thing lam doing at present m this connection is that where . .- extra trains are being run as oxperi- ' ment or on trial, and where .they do not prove to be warranted by the,in-' creased volume of traffic. I am taking - them off. Already the running of four trains lias been discontinued, and re-, ports are being obtained as to others. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. \ " I anticipate further revenue with- . out proportionate expenditure, because I think we shall be able to .deal.'-

with increased traffic without any increase of staff. It- is, however, impossible" to estimate the amount of such Pii increase. All that we know is that His revenue for' the present year,shows Sri iiiefeaso on that of the past, and tiiis although there have been several Kntoward events, which have been us. I refer to the stringency —^Toi inonev, the loss of the timber trade "<\v]iieli has m the past been very heavy iudeed), and the coal strikes m the north, which have affected us pretty materially, although the loss of currying oil this, account Tias been balfiricsd' to A considerable extent by the i?f?i;e3se«L fihnountv; of.^.Nyewca'stlo coal 5 i-eif'has had'to bo carried .-'.;' ■•-■-^-i .. '•The purchase of the Aiaiunviiai line by the State will also help us to decrease ,expenditure, by effecting a material reduction m the cost of haulage, as, as soon as the necessary crossings and sidings, can be completed, all goods traffic from north of Eketahuna to Wellington, and vice versa, will be brought this way, thereby saving the heavy cost of goods traffic brought Or'er. the Rimutaki incline. Eventually )re intend, id ilse tllfe Rimutakii. line far .through' pakseiigef. traffic, and fo,r goods traffic to the -"Wairarapa only. All goods for above,-Eketahuna,. or perhaps Pahiatua will be sent v.ia Manawiitii, as the haulage over the-.lliinu-: tstka; : is. much greater —nearly one shilling a! ton more. -: . ... - _•: , -"'By these •means I Can make a considerable decrease- m working ■ expenses, and together with the other matters I have mentioned, and several others which I am dealing with and which I will- be unable to speak of for some months yet, will, I believe, bring about the desired end; namely, that the railways will be able to earn sufficient, approximately, to pay neatily the interest on them." " No, I am not going to say whether they will pay more than the interest on them," said the Minister m reply {<> si further question-. ,<■". l want, to show, results. 1 don't believe m prognosticating- what may not happen or what may happen. I prefer to try and let results speak for themselves; but I hope that these results will justify my anticipations of working the railways on a paying basis." PASSENGER RATES. Questioned as to his intentions m respect to passenger rates, the Minister expressed his inability fo say a great <leal about the matter as yet, pleading that he had been but a short time m charge of the Railways Department, and that he did not believe ■m hasty action. " \¥hat may strike you at first blush as being a mistake, close investigation - may prove to you to have been justifiable," he went on, " and thereforeI want to gain the experience which time alone can give, under the new conditions which I have previously mentioned, and see to what extent the revenue is affected. I have just lately received from America a published statement regarding the results of the compulsory two-cents-a-mile-passenger-freights which were enacted m some of the American States; that it, m some of the States the fares have been limited by statute to one penny a mile. The results show that for the first year's working after the Act was passed, four million extra passengers were carried by the twenty-seven lines of railways affected, but that the earnings of the fcompanies had been reduced by 19,000,000 dollars (£3,800,----000). The various companies affected, according to the statement, are now meeting for the purpose of reduring the number of trains run 'to a minimum, as it is claimed that it is impossible to run railways with passenger freights at one penny per mile, maximum charge. In our railways, the rate for long distance travel works out at a fraction over id per mile. Of course, a traveller has to go a long distance to obtain this advantage, but I think that the fare for any distance over 150 miles is, " m this country, without doubt the cheapest- m the world. Of course, there is no objection to granting'every facility possible to the travelling public, but experience may show that it will be necessary to go into the whole position again a little later on, when the results may show that we are justified m maintaining existing rates. On the other hand, it may be necessary to readjust !" "Re-adjust?" interrogated the interviewer. "Yes, re-adjust; I won't use any :other word," " replied the Minister blandly. " But you may rest assured," he concluded, as Hinds was reached, " that nothing will be done without full consideration m Cabinet."