RAILWAY INQUIRY

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 142, 18 June 1930, Page 7

RAILWAY INQUIRY

SHOULD BE WIDENED. OPINION IN AUCKLAND. QUESTION OF TTEW LI^'ES. NEED OF AN ACCOUNTANT. "In my opinion tie order of reference ! the Railways Commission, although ivering a large field, is not quite wide lough to make the commission's findgs as successful as they might prove to said a prominent business man in uckland this morning, when asked to ate his views. "The nineteen points > he considered are no doubt of a varied iture, and if properly investigated the :sult should be of considerable benefit; it there is one outstanding omission— ie order of reference unfortunately does U include the investigation of new or roposed railway schemes. "I notice also that Mr. G. W. Eeid, :countant, of D.unedin, was asked to 3cept a seat on the commission, but for salth reasons was unable to do so," he mtinued. "It appears from the official itimation that the commission will now insist of men with little or no accounmcy experience whatever. This, in my pinion, is a grave mistake. Finance is > wrapped up with railway working lat I think the Government would be ell advised to reconsider their decision ad have a qualified accountant apointed to the personnel. It is not too ite to do this, and it would be an rror to have a man appointed after the ommission has commenced its sittings, nd when it will no doubt be found that n accountant's advice and investigaon powers are absolutely necessary. Question of Extending Lines. "Concerning the construction of new nes and the extension of existing railrays there is much controversy, and to at tie any doubt which might exist in lie minds of the public I am strongly f the opinion that the commission bould be given the power to investigate bat phase of railway administration nd probe the matter to its utmost conlusion. "Another thing which strikes me is hat the commission should be given uthority, as evidence before it is prouced, to amend in a practical way the rder of reference," he said. "That is o say, for instance, ifr it is found that he policy dealing with new lines canot be avoided on account of the coelated. evidence which will be given, hen who is to decide whether that paricular matter relating to extension of ines and new works shall be eliminated r not? Has the chairman the power to •o so? I agree with the remarks of Mr. il. Stewart, president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, when he said hat the direction to the committee hould have been summed up in the lentence: 'Tell us how to make the ailways pay.'" Chamber of Commerce Views. When Mr. M. Stewart, president of he Auckland Chamber of Commerce was tsked for his opinion concerning the irrler of reference of the Railways Com- < nission, he, too, remarked that he did lot think it was wide enough. There vas considerable detail regarding what he commision was to investigate, but iveryone realised that new railway vorks should not be proceeded with uness they were economically sound. He hought that consideration should be riven to the wider question of policy, is it seemed necessary to change the iresent one if the railway system was ;o be made to pay. The inquiry "would leal only with matters of internal adninistration, and would disregard constructional policy and capital expenditure. Power should have been - given to the commission to inquire into all newrailway works with a view to seeing whether these were economically sound. Hie Auckland Chamber of Commerce strongly advocated the placing of the system under commission control similar to that operating with the Canadian National Railways. The chamber felt that the separation of railways from political control would produce good results. One excellent phase of the inquiry, however, as far as the chamber was concerned, was that dealing with the possible co-ordination of rail and road services. Why Didn't Reform Act? Referring to a report from Paparoa that a radical reform in the control 3f New Zealand Railways had been advocated by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, leader of the Opposition, a prominent ex-railway man said that the present policy of administration was one adopted by the Reform Govrrnment when it was in power. Mr. Coates had stated that the policy of the Reform party now was to remove the railways :'rom political control and transfer the jontrol to a directorate of from 13 to 15 members, with the general manager as 'hairman. f "Why this sudden change of opinion," he ex-official asked. "They had 16 vears in which to consider this proposition, and yet did nothing except mport a small army of experts and apiohit commissions, such as the FayRaven one, to advise Mr. Coates as Minister of Railways, what he should 10. The results been obvious, -apital expenditure has mounted up by leaps and bounds, repair costs have •isen by nearly 100 per cent, and some lundreds of tnousands of pounds have wen expended on the new workshops at "Jtahuhu for instance, when for a sum if approximately from £25,000 to £30,000 the old Newmarket workshops would have made them suitable to cope with ail railway repair work for the next 25 years at least. No, in my opinion, there has been too much political control in the past, and it is a pity that Mr. Coates did not make his suggestions when the Reform Government was in power, and when he had such capital opportunity." .