THE MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13719, 28 April 1910, Page 8

THE MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS.

HON. J. A. MILLAR'S RETURN. OPINIONS OF AUSTRALIAN RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. (riUSS ASSOCIATION' Tll.XG____.) WELLINGTON, April 27. The Hon. J, A. Millar. Minister of Railways., returned to Wellington from Australia by the Moana, alter a tour extending over five weeks through Queensland, New South Wales. Victoria, and South Australia. During his absence from New Zealand, the Minister has travelled no less than <;:100 miles, at an average of over 200 miles ncr day, excluding Sundays. The object of his visit was to make a systematic inspection of railway systems in each of the leading States of the Commonwealth.

•One oi tbe principal objerts ol ny visit," sail Mr Millar, '-was to nscertain how the Commissioner system worked in Australia. In the Commonvealth, tlie Minister for Railways .seems to have little actual work to do in the details of railway administration. In those States I visited, I discussed methods of working the railways, traffic matters, and ways of dealin.; with the capital accounts with each of the Commissioners —Messrs Tait (Thief Commissioner), Fitzpatrick, and Norman, of Victoria; Messrs Johnson (Chief), and Richardson (Assistant), of New South Wales: Mr Thellon (Chief), of Queensland, and Mr Monciieff (Chief), of South Australia. I found that the constant complaints made in New Zealand in regard to railway management were equally strong" in Australia, the principal .subjects of complaint being shortage ot trucks, railway fares, and time-tables. Almost every "day whilst I was in Australia, articles were appearing in the Press criticising the railway management, and it was freely admitted that in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, th© harvests were so great that available rolling stock was quito insufficient to cope with the requirements in a speedy manner. **I also made enquiries with regard to fares and wages and general conditions under which the railway employees were ivorked in different States. Each and all of the Commissioners afforded mc every information, a good deal of which might be applied to New Zealand conditions, being very similar throughout. A railway expert whom I mot expressed surprise at the speed which was maintained on our own "narrow gauge lines. A careful comoanson made between the respective "times taken by the MelbourneAdelaide express and the WellingtonAuckland express shows that, notwithstanding our narrow gauge of 3ft 6in against thoir oft 3in, the trains maintain almost equal speed "Suburban services out of Melbourne and Sydney are very great, and each train is handled most expeditiously. The people are accustomed to leave very quickly after their particular train stops at a station.. Even with the very extensive suburban services out of Sydncv, tho Department would be quite unable to cope with the traffic were it not for the tramway service. There are in Sydney 1040 cars on the road, and these have in one day carried 850,G"CHJ passengers. The tramways are in Sydney valuable auxiliaries to the railways, and are worked at a profit, last year's return having showed 6i per cent, on the capital outlay. "Looked at on the whole, the wages paid throughout the railway service in Australia are not so high as those paid in New Zealand, nor are the conditions of employment so good. A high rate of. wages mentioned in some instances is received by a very small number in Aus-iralia-'.and the conditions under which th-j New Zealand railways are worked arc very much better from the point of view of the employee. All my information on which this statement is based ha 6 been obtained in conferences with the Commissioners and heads of depart"While in New South Wales I interviewed Mr Wade and his colleagues, and also Mr Murray, Victoria. While in South Australia I had a conference with the Acting-Premier, Mr ' Butler. Travelling along lines in &uith Australia and Victoria one can see .thousands of sacks of grain uncovered, ready for haulage. There is no doubt that in tho wholo of the States there has been great prosperity, and the Commonwealth has had a splendid" season ai*. through; but along the main lines, at anyrate, tho country seems to be very poorly stocked. From Brisbane to Adelaide, a distance >of about 1800 miles, 1 doubt*whether I saw more than 1000 sheep all told, and they were ot poor quality. 7 "I had an independent opinion about the New Zealand lines from Mr Fe'hon, late Railway Commissioner of New South Wales, who visits this country very frequently. I discussed with him the principles on which we work in New Zealand, and asked him if be could suggest any improvements. His reply was, that .from his experience the New Zealand railway.: were very *" satisfactorily rum I may say tbat 'Mr Fehon has spent nearly all his life as a railway man. < " "Queensland has a large railway construction policy in hand, and is obtaining some fine rolling stock for its express. . In the big, workshops I found only about four machines which I do not remember to have seen in our own shops. Taken all round, our rolling stock compares very favourably with that of Australia. South. Australia and Victoria are both embarking on big building programmes. The former State, as well as Queensland, obtains most of its new engines from outside f-ims. Nearly all the carriages and trucks are built in tho Government workshops, and the cost compares very fpvourahly with the price of the imported article. "After the experience of Australia, t_- cry for ta second express on th© Auckland-Wellington line appears more unreasonable than ever. One express a day suffices for the needs of Sydney and Melbourne, the former having a population of over 600,000, and the latter over hali". a million. Besides serving these two.largo centres, the train carries a large floating population from Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide, with the result that this one daily express satisfies tho requirements of a population ' several times greater than that of the whole of the North Island." Questioned as to the financial work-ii'-j of New Zealand railways for the year ended 31st March, Mr Millar said hie was not prepared at present to give any figures beyond those he quoted in Australia a few days ago. All he could say was that the operations for the twelve months had been very satisfactory. The Minister, who returns in the best of health, speaks warmly *of the gtnerous hospitality and kindness accorded to him wherever he went in Australia. Some of the things he saw during his travels might be applicable to New Zealand railways, others are not. A lawyer once, who caught a cold, Was soon called to tha ( *Bar," Where liquor by the"case* was sold, Old Scotch, as well Three Star; His stay was "brief," "I won't. I'm sure, Touch this whatever it,, 'costs'; I'll take some Wocds' Great Peppr-rmirt Cure,