THE RAILWAYS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20037, 19 September 1930, Page 15

THE RAILWAYS.

f Wancial position % KEVIEWED. :», r< ? MINISTER OPTIMISTIC. <; ADVICE AND CRITICISM. L [' (."BBSS ASSOCIATION TELEGJIAM.) " ' WELLINGTON, September 18. A debate on the Bailway Statement v |i initiated in the House of Repre- • '|MBUtive3 to-day by the Hon. W. A. «alteh, who said he felt sure membera realise that the duty devolving ipaa the railway administration at Am present time presented many diffi(jttttlw, although the problem was by ' $ means hopeless. The financial reIjLfa of the Department up to the '• bb» <>t *' ie * aßt financ ' a l J" ear were * «eh M*° caus ° responsible men to fafr the situation carefully and seri«i»ly orc ' er to t> r i n g about more satis- * fijjtory results.- No doubt it would be reeognised that tho Bailway Departaaatf apart from its own finances and rt| effect of them, was a great national lervice of value to the people of Now 2ui|Md, and reaching far beyond the ggfo figures relating to its finance. It ' WOtfld be acknowledged that if it should wove that the railway figures could not ,M balanced and that part of the cost of maintaining the Bailway Department must be placed on the shoulders of tt« taxpayers, it would still be deniable to give the best servico to the piople. A Pleasing Experience. "jSf Veiteh s<aid he had had a pleasing osya'rience in connexion with the projiom! to close a number of branch Uatt. The people in tho districts affteted had set up Vigilance Commit- '" MM, and to-day the Government was ' i»'she happy position of being able - t4ko6p a number of lines going owing to {he decision of tho people to bring their business bade to the railways. This .-. troold almost entirely, if not entirely, ; eliminate the loss on the operation of ;, the Maes. " ' was sorry it had not been pos- ?< tibl* to adopt transport legislation that ! ?1 nonld enable the railways to run in co'l oifination with other forms of trans- ;. peft on rational lines. Ho hoped that in \ jUAfvery near future it would be pos- ' slbte to eliminate the ' heavy' cost of : *«gt«ful competition. • He' believed the • Jffjf Zealand railways servico had a '$ npat future before it. It was still play,f',sl|''jin important part in the developthe country, and would play a important part in the future". HowW&Mt unless they could get such' transas would enable the roSiaMft) of waste through lack of coHHpltion the time would come when IgSr would fail to compete with road HijHrtiAn of dismissing a number of. men, dismissing hundreds of . . men ||§§|jj*Hy- It was essential to begin as |Mfff as now to improve and strengthen KHpSnances of the Department and ISHP* B the co-operation of the staff 9B required. He felt confident the f||HKwould stand behind him in facing |||ffiproblem he had to solve. He pliitly regretted that it had been necesuWm to dispense with the services of iflle men, but he felt sure that they IhmMl realise it was by no means his ipish to do so, and there was nothing lip would like more than to be able Ifo replace them.

I Effect of Depression. ( When the virility of the race and tho brtst potential wealth of New Zealand WW) taken into consideration, there was mtely no need to have any fears reIpftUng the future. One of the causes present unsatisfactory financial |Kafsion of the railways was the general psuession which affected the Depart HK, in common with other business iiuMtriis. That condition could not |p||Nßnnanent. A slight increase in IWMBction from the land would effect j||Pf improvement, and other factors |pMtji be land settlement, an increase ||»MBnuf acttiring, and tho development Iftib* tourist traffic. Bsr-' Directorate Suggested. KThe Et. Hon. J. G. Coates, Leader fp;lbe Opposition, said it would not be llttible for this country to function HMfcaat' its railway l communication*. W'was inevitable that no General Mwrngrr of Railways would ever be Bwt to make the operating railway*H& : to long as there were changes of Htttnment and strokes of the political Hn> The railways would never be a mees* under the present system. There Hfeosly one way in which they could BEttteeed on a paying basis, and that Hpft be; to hand thorn over to a direcHpiKe. Such a system had been inHMwed with success in Canada, Bel HHtt, and Germany: All Ministers for ngptyi had found difficulty in meetBhJ§wl> pressure of interested parties HKf reference to freights, and there Hm-ialways be hesitation to make HHfjberease. - The only sure way to Hpfe the burden that the railways ||§§jjil ©a the taxpayers would be to SHia'the whole system over to an indeHm|k Board' of Directors. Hul;~ Dismissals Criticised. HffW. Nasb (Lab., Hutt) said the W|pßr of the Opposition favoured Bf§§B the'railways over to a Board HPptetets Jo make them pay. It ■H;appear that he considered the HP Important thing was to make HB'|ty a dividend to the shareholdHp|ffmelT, the people of New Zeacriticised the action of the JlßJgßuiUvnt In dismissing men from the service. He contended that HKlteßlssalfl had not been due to Bjyof work for the men to do, but ■m of the lack of money to pay HI I This was an unwise policy, beHMf "oaee the men were dismissed raft became a charge on lllligtate In another direction. It HH:*srely be more «»conomic to eraop useful work in the BailLaWnH —' * than to engage them J Motor Transport. HWlgtg* D. Lysnar (Ind. 8., Gisborne) MKSfr railways should not be reMsHfrsp much from the point of view ■HKloat as from the point of view [HMPJfovelopment of the country. Ho the losses should be reHHIiW a minimum, but development Mafflkwain thing. It was necessary PBBaWgGovarnment to grapple with the Wmmtoi motor transport in comHKf*th the railways. He hoped ■HHgWation dealing with the sun Jordan (Lab., Manukau) ■WMWted the dismissals in the rail■Hlpjkeu He asked whether it was HWHty of the Department to buy ■HHI-fOods. He contended that HHMjt%riht had been used °, n th * HHPmfo and he asked whether it satisfactory. He contended had been

given better facilities for demonstrating their paint than British firms. vretlfa?' W * B " Tav «™er said the rttolT < ? overnm ent could claim it had £ti J\° position of , th « railways for P ? n tl°?, thepeo P le ' No one had forecasted the development of motor tranap ortj but th(J present position was aue in a measure to past extravagance. ihe statement that the railways should .oe placed under .the control of a directorate was nothing more than drawing a red herring across the track. lack of Vision. s^!n E " ?\ How a r d (Lab., Christchurch «outh) said one of the reasons why tho flew Zealand railways were not paying was because they were out of date and not run on business lines. The Government's policy lacked vision. Mr C. A. Wilkinson (Ind., Egmont) advocated a system of freight charges on the basis of weight alone. He stated it was on this basis that competitors attracted business from the railways. He also supported the remarks of tho General Manager of Bailways with respect to rolling a tock. He considered Jt was important that renewals should oo made. Beforring to the problem of co-ordin-ation, Mr Wilkinson said he thought it would be found necessary in some cases to confine the railway service to the carriage of freight alone. In other cases it might even be necessary to closo down the railway line and substitute a road service. Political Lines. , Mr 11. S. S. Kyle (8., Bicearton) said it was time political railways were abolished. They had been a curse in the past and he hoped the electors would soon come to the conclusion that the sooner the railways were removed from the political arena the bettor. Mr M. J. Savage (Lab., Auckland West) said the railways should be regarded as a social service and whether they paid or not was not an important point. If the railways had to be placed on a balance-sheet basis the country would not be properly served. Mr F. Waite (R., Clutha) said if there were overlapping of services in the final analysis the consumer had to pay. In the past the railways had been the best means of opening up country, but it was questionable whether they were today. polling Stock Wanted. The Loader of the Labour Party, Mr H. E. Holland, said if the day over came when the House rejected the idea of the railways being a public utility, and treated them as a business concern, it would have to credit them with the value of country that had resulted from their construction and maintenance. It would be a difficult tusk to assess that value. He endorsed the statement of Mr Savage that the railways should be regarded as a social service. Mr Holland said that while tho Minister for Railways on tho one hand was explaining that there was not enough work to keep all the employees engaged, the General Manager on tho other hand reported that there was a crying need for rolling stock. There was urgent necessity foV work to be done in constructing new rolling stock, but insufficient money wae provided for the purpose. The dismissal of men from the railway workshops could not be justified. It struck first at the men, because they suffered most, and, secondly, through the men, at tho wholo community of New Zealand. Furthermore, failure to provide sufficient rolling stock was .one of the contributing factors to the losses on the railways. It would be a Baving proposition to roplace all the men who had been dismissed. Mr H. G. Dickie (8., Patea) questioned whether the country was getting value for the money expended on publicity in tho Railway Department. He considered the present General Manager would b.? able to attain good results from the operation of the railways if he were Riven a free hand. Mr C. Carr (Lab., Timaru) expressed the opinion that tho introduction of lighter and faster trains would produco more satisfactory results.

I Minister la Eeply. Replying to the debate, Mr Veitch assured the House that he had listened carefully to all that had been said by members. He had made a note of the points raised and all of them would be considered when they came to reconstruct the policy of the Department in the light of the report of the Railway Commission now sitting. The cost of repairing rolling stock had been a =senOus drain on the railway finances. Since the General report had been compiled £210,C00 had been provided for the purchase of material to be worked into the manufacture of rolling stock. That material, he understood, was' already on the water. In addition £120,000 had been made available to be used for fabricating rolling stock. The total of these two sums would be sufficient to keep the workshops going. The deficiency explained in the General Manager-'s report hud already been met. Estimates Considered. The House then proceeded to consider in Committee of Supply the Estimate for the .Working Bailways account. Mr H E. Holland moved that the total vote be reduced as a protest against the action of the Minister in continuing dismissals in the railway service and in reducing orders for coal supplies, thereby dislocating trade. Mr Holland's amendment was rejected on a division by 40 votes to Progress was then reported and the House rose at 12.10 a.m. till 10.80 a.m. to-day. LATEST REVENUE FIGURES. IPBB3S iSSOCUMOH TBUSOBAIi.) WELLINGTON, September 18. The railway working account for the four weekly period ended August 16th is as follows (shillings and pence omitted):— NORTH ISLAND. P.c. rev'ue for Revenue. Espan're. year. Kaihu .. 284 811 212.80 Giabonte '?. 1-922 3,093 140.32 N. Island Main 277,609 Total .. 2797618 287,921 96.84 SOUTH ISLAND. Main lines and branches .. 169,331 201,4-24 99.19, Wutpott - 9,517 7,731 74.10" Nelson .. 1,516 3,225 181.67 Picton ..' 3,162 3,865 183.34 Total .. 182J527 216,243 99.11 Operating total 462,843 £04,170 97.81 Mis. revenue .". 28,128 L.k* Wakatipu . , steamers 448 867 161.41 Ref re s h men t „. „._ ~ a on rooms, etc. .. 20,429 21,388 96.62 Dept- dwellings > 8,170 13J585 169.70 Grand total .. £l9.Eis 540,111 94.18 A new record has been established by Signor Parmigiani of Parma for, in spite of the toss of a leg, he holds the record for the greatest number of fines for excessive speed on a motor-cycle in the whole of this Italian province. Modem scales which, when . one article is weighed, will tell the weight of any given number of the same article are in use in Sheffield. There were 6932 commercial flights in Britain last year, In which 29,312 passengers, 889 tons of <!argo and 99 tons of mail were carried.