THE RAILWAY BOARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 230, 28 September 1922, Page 7

THE RAILWAY BOARD.

ATTACK AND DEFENCE. (By Telegraph.-- lai-;;amentar.v Itei>orter.i WELLINGTON. Wednesday. Two points of view on the recent reorganisation of the Railway Department were expressed during the Imprest Supply ili'lrjtc i;i the House to-day. Mr. Wjilord defcribed the board a* absoluleiy farcical and absurd. It was a reluctant ill-considered move l>y a (iovernineiit at its wit's end to know how to reconstruct an altogether impossible service which was causing discontent from one end of New Zealand to t!io other. He would «ay nothing against the capacity of the members ot the hoard, but they were all men who had j teen associated' closely with the general manager o» a poli.'y which had been so f-trongly criticised. "They Will do the Mime old things in the same old routine it:! tnpe way.' , he concluded. Mr. Massey defended the new move, declaring that there were fewer com- ' plaints about the railways than hud ; been t-'e case up till a few months ago.■! The licnril was carrying out the principle which Ministi'rs of Railways had endeavoured to bring about for yr.irs past. They wanted to give the (icncral Manager an opportunity of running the eystcin not from a desk, but by seeing the customer* of the railway and travelling, over the lines morn than once a year. Mr. Mitchell: Why don't you appoint a bu?ine»e man 7 I .Ml. ?>la=sey replied that he recognised thai thia was good in theory, but eery head of a State Department was a good hu-inegs man. There were good business in<'Ti in Parliament, though the publi.-i might not agree with him. They could nnt run the railways, however. lie urgeil the country lo give th,. new system a fnir trial to see how it would work out. ;