RAILWAY REORGANISATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 47, 24 February 1923, Page 7

RAILWAY REORGANISATION.

FOUR GROUPS. TRADE RATHER THAN DIVIDEND.. iKrom <>or Special Correspondents IAINDON", January 1. Of all the changes to be rung in on us ! by this New Year of I!_3 the most pervasive will be the reorganisation of our ; railways. They are not yet nationalised A. a i railway company manager defines it: Wei are living m-days when co-operation. rather -han competition, is the great: watchword of industry; and probably it j is tlie principle of "c-on-olidat ion" which j is the root principle governing I he many : changes which are now lie lug given effect , to in the railway world as 'lie i. Milt of j the new legislation. Not only does tlie Act require mat; the railway companies shall adjust their i own organisations internally hy group- j ings and amalgamations of finance and; personnel, but it embodies amonsrst it-* more important provisions new machinery and methods for consultation | and co-operative administration between its officers and the travelling and j trading public, and for conference and negotiation as to hours, wages, and conditions of service between 'he companies and their employees. And tiie task is a heavy enough one. At one time the total numlier of companies owning railways in the L'nited Kingdom exceeded 300. The largest was the London and North-Western: the smallest the Easingwold owning a line two and a-half miles in length with one locomotive and two passeuger coaches. Over 1,000 companies have disappeared through consolidations. By amalgamation, absorption and leasing, the control aud working of the 20,000 miles of railways in (..real Britain had. by the year 1014, passed into the hands of about 12(1 companies. In addition, either by virtue of statutory enactments or by mutual agreements, powers were obtained hy many companies for the running of trains on various sections of other companies' lines. There are now but lour groups, the Southern, tiie Western. the NorthWestern and Midland, and tiie NorthEastern and Eastern, with mileages of respectively 2.100, ...tiOti. 7,.'H>"." and 6,700. Whilst the change is a hig. even a revolutionary, one in personnel and internal organisation, this alteration itself will not affect the travelling and trading public so much as subsequent changes in administration which are expected to take place in connection with economies and alterations of practical working, whether in charges, services, or accommodation. as a result of the reorganisation of personnel and administrative territories. In various directions tiie public hopes to see some small lienelit for, itself from tlie new Act of I'ai-liamey. establishing this regime. To begin with, some economy of directors' fees can well lie effected, since the number under the old rule was 700. and they drew in fees £154.00(1 per annum. One woufil not cavil at tiie cost. but the number of directors is too high to make the average worth the considerajtiuii of good men. and is only thrown | away on had. | Lite public, too. will have a look in. since the Act requires the institution ot a rates tribunal, on which it is represented, upon which shall rest the function and responsibility of arranging new : rates and charges on a just, equitableland reasonable basis, after bringing j traders and travellers into close consultation with the railway representatives. This very necessary decision of rates is. j moreover, not to lie a final adjustment. The Act requires that the rates and I charges lie reviewed every year, or other I period to he determined, and if necessary revised so as to maintain a standard level —that level to be the net revenue yielded 'to tlle railway companies iv the rear j.J.13. This clause is a far-reaching one. since lit -secures as a principle that the good ' of, tiie trading community, lather than j tlie .tuple earning of dividends, should ! lie tlie main objective of railway manage uient. All this reorganisation, given time and fair play, ought lo go far towards regaining for English railways their prewar reputation, and it i«i« Sir Kric Oeddes himself, no mean authority on tlie subject, who declared that it by no means followed that the regime of competition in which the railways systems have flourished iv the past necessarily provided the most satisfactory conditions i for the future. But there is another factor on which we rely for marked progress in the near j future —electrification. The substitution of this power'lor steam, which lias | already worked such wonders in the ] transport of passengers iv the urban | areas, is hound to have a far-leaching j effect in long distance ami heavy traf lie Thus Sir Vincent Raven said in an address to the .North-Kast Coast I nstiS tut ion of Engineers on Kith December. 19:21. that live electric engines are doing I the work of thirteen steam in the heavy [mineral train working between Shildoii |in West Durham and Middlcsl...r..ugh.; and there i. much evidence of the same ! kiud in other districts. ! So the ' British public look- lo this j New Year gift with an uplifted in-art a.id is going his way rejoicing that he ■ begins to-day one stage Nearer tin- old parliamentary penny a mile irn.el and I pre-war cmidilioiis.