NOT ON TRIAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 137, 12 June 1930, Page 14

NOT ON TRIAL

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT STAFF ROYAL COMMISSION'S ORDER OP REFERENCE. PRIME MINISTER'S VIEW. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. The order of reference of the Railway Commission has been practically completed, ready for handing to the commission, and it was stated by the Prime Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, in answer to a question from your correspondent to-night, that he expects the first meeting to be held next week. '"It is my intention," added the Prime Minister, "to ask the commission to report before the end of August, so that its recommendations and the Government's decisions thereon can be placed before Parliament. "In setting up this commission •of investigation in respect to railway finance," continued the Prime Minister, "this action is not to be taken as any reflection on the management and staff of the railway service. I recognise that the men who are i responsible for running the railways are capable and efficient officers, and that they are actuated by a keen desire to get the best possible results from the service, both from the financial and public utility point of view. They are not responsible for many of the points of .policy, and it is in these directions o that the Government feels that there is need for investigation. "Railways administration, as such, is not on its trial, as has been suggested in some quarters, but it is the policywith which they haVe been entrusted which requires overhauling, so that Parliament and the country will clearly understand what are its weaknesses from a financial point of view, and what can be done to remedy the very big loss now being thrown upon the taxpayer. We have a large sum of money to provide in respect to the working of the railways this year, as I have indicated in my recent survey of our national finance, and we have to decide how much of that can be justifiably incurred in respect to the national utility services which the railways are giving, what is a fair thing to ask the taxpayer to bear, and what economies can be effected in the operation of the railways."