THE CRY FOR RAILWAYS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 290, 1 September 1908, Page 6

THE CRY FOR RAILWAYS.

It is Election year, and members and deputations are knocking loudly at tho Treasury portals. In the House last week tho cry for railways went up in an insistent chorus, while outside the walls of Parliament deputations are pressing on Ministers the requirements of their districts in the matter of roads, bridges, and railways. The completion of the North Island Main Trunk liaihvay between' Wellington and Auckland, a work which has served for years past as a useful buffer against the clamour for district railways, has unloosed upon Ministers and members every scheme of railway construction ever contemplated within tho Dominion. . No longer can the Minister for Public Works evade the persistent deputationist with a promise to consider tho requirements of his district when the. great national undertaking is completed. That work is cdmpleted, or practically so, and the Government must face a new situation—and must face it in Election year. In a recent articlo we urged that tho time was opportune for serious con-', sideration of a genoral scheme of railway development for the Dominion. In the past political railways have been embarked on with an easy conscience, and the country is bearing tho burden to-day. A needed section of railway in one part of the country has been mado tho'lever, to secure a railway, or an oxtension of an existing railway, in another part where the same justification did not exist, and tho result ib that certain sections of our State railways aro hopelessly incapable of earning interest on tho money expended on them. But this is not all—in some cases, particularly in tho South Island, the position grows worse. It would be too much to oxpcct the Government on the eve of tho General Elections to take a resolute stand against the clamour of the eloctprates for tho expenditure of publio moneys. AVo havo no doubt that Ministers will follow the customary course at such times and in their way make tho most of their opportunity. But tho ■ least that should be dono is to lay down some general plans i for future railway development. 'By all rruans givo tho claims of the various districts every consideration, but when thoso claims have been fully gone into, and dispassionately weighed, they should bo further scrutinised in their present and future bearing on the whole railway system of tho Dominion. It has been .tho practice to awoeton different districts by

dividing up the money available for railway expenditure on the various uncompleted sections in these districts rather than to concentrate effort on the works most urgently required, leaving the less important for futuro attention. This may bo sound tactics politically, but is it a wise policy for the country as a whole? It is time that these and other questions Bhould be gone into, and a definite policy laid down. (There are many who hold tho opinion that somo of our uncompleted lines should never bo completed, and that it would pay tho country to close them down altogether. This may bo an oxtrcme view, but with tho annual loss )0n our railways growing with the extension of tho existing lines, tho question is not one to bo trifled with. The Pnniß Min : istek would bo acting wisely wcro ho to take the House into his confidence in tho matter of tho future policy of tho Government in relation to railway construction. Wo would further hope to learn ere the session closes that beforo making any further commitments to new lines the "whole position of tho railways will be carefully reviowod by some competent and unbiassed authority, independent of Ministerial influence. -