RAILWAY POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 105, 3 May 1919, Page 6

RAILWAY POLICY.

The visit of the Minister of Public lAVorks to North Auckland raises again | tho urgent epilation of the rapid com- ' pletion of our main lines of railway. . Again it was urged that the main North ' line should be completed early, and Sir William Frascr made a sympathetic reI ply. There were, he said, more men 1 working on the line than on any other | line, and a scheme had been drafted for a temporary line to bridge a gap so as to give earlier connection between Auckland and Kaikohe than would be obtained if we had to wait until the permanent line was completed. So far so good, but Sir William Fraser has not I said anything to show that he has I grasped the necessity not only for a much more vigorous railway policy generally, but for a basic reform in the Government's attitude towards railway construction. It is significant that on this t.uir Sir 'William turned the first sod j of another branch line, this time to con- ! ncct Waipu with the Northern railway ! system. There is no more deserving I rural community in New Zealand than ; the Waipu setlers. They have been firsti class pioneers, and they have put up j with poor communications throughout j the settlement's long history. Year after ! year they have watched the main rail- ! way line crawl northwards at a pace calculated to make many men despair, and at last they have the satisfaction of seeing a Minister turn the first sod of a railway branch line that will connect their settlement with the main line. But if they count on a speedy connection they ! may be sadly disappointed. That is i not the Government's method. It is its [practice to keep a large number of lineß

going, main and branch, adding a little bit to each every year. Here and there are gaps in lines which prevent them reaching the paying point, a state of things violating elementary principles of business, but the old method of piecemeal construction goes on year after year. Waipu deserves a branch line, but Waipu people may well ask themselves what the effect of this new work is going to be on the fortunes of the main line. Is the Government going to give With one hand and take away with tlie other? Or has Sir William thrown this little ceremony to them as a sop, not meaning to show any great energy in building this branch line! •But the North Auckland railway system, important though it is, furnishes only one example of the need for a bold constructive, business-like policy. How many years will it be before tlie East Coast railway is completed at the present rate cf construction?- Ten or twenty? This enterprise, with its slowly lengthening stretches of construction, alternating with gaps, must be one of the most unbusinesslike railway enterprises an the world. There is no more important work before the next Parliament—it would be useless to expect thi> moribund Assembly to take it vp —than reform of railway construction policy on bold lines, and the adoption of a general public works policy in which enterprises if various kinds will be set in their nrdei of importance, .and the most important carried out with all possible speed. Clear thinking nnd imagination are needed. The financial outlook of the Dominion is far too serious to permit a continuance of tlie old slow, wasteful method-;. 'Railways and roatls are the things that the country needs at once and before anything else for that development of its resources that is necessary for meeting our huge liabilities. Public opinion must this fact and insist on its representatives doing the same. The fact that Minister after Minister has openly condemned the present system shows that it only needs pressure of public opinion, operating through its representatives, to bring about these reforms.