THE Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1909. RAILWAY POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 416, 27 January 1909, Page 6

THE Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1909. RAILWAY POLICY.

inip.ttji i •$: ; : V :>y ; -y !.IMui>i:. THOSE people who havo hitherto given ■their'Veherooiit''support: to o|i Sir Josbph Warp to defend the policy undqr which railways have bocomo a machine for losing vast sums of' money should feel;rather uncomfortable over the statoment of railways policy which the Hon, J. A. Miplar took .occasion to make •yesterday, By everybody olse, however, the new, Minister's plain repudiation of the itheorios which Sir ■ Joseph Wajid has always advanced in defence of^he.r.uiqous 1 and extravagant administration of the will he cQßsidored a subject for rejoicing. A more thorough and uncpm--promising, denial of the doctrines of Sir Joseph could hardly bo imagined. The railways, said Mr. • Millar, "ought _ to pay," and, not content with this heretical denial of the creed preached by tho Prime Minister and upheld'by tho Ministerialist press, : he went on , to lay down exactly those .principles which we have constantly, advocated, and for advocating which we havo been pelted with quite noisy abuse by tho, Prime Minister and bis friends, "The railways mugfc be made to pay better tlm .they have, done," Mb. Millar ,continued, i'l don't believe the .'|;a?pa,y6;c oilght to be called upon to help pay for tho working of tho railways, and I don't intend to make that. the policy of the' ilailway Department. : To a certain ex- , tent it .ie right. to make the country aa a whole pay for the opening up of new dis--tj'iqts, but I do not intend to make it the policy of the Department to carry goods at a loss. ~ . Ido not.say the railways limst make a proSli, but I say they ought to pay their own expends and interest like any other business and not bo a charge on the Consolidated Revenue;" , This admirable summary of the right railway policy need not be amplified or defended :in these in which the amplification and defence bays appeared over and over again. ' .We way quote, However, a few extracts from tho innumerable speeches in which the Prjmb MjNiwpa has defended the theory that the ought not to pay, that tbey ought not even to pay their, own expenses and interest, and that the taxpayer ought to meet the annual deficit. In his speech 9t Palmerston North on October JO last he defended at great length "what is known as the 3 'per cent, policy," and ho ppoke bitterly of the fact that "the Opposition have continuously decried the policy of the Govqrnpient, and havo dona their best'to create the impression that the railway policy of the Government is a ruinous one to the country. I allow the ffictjj to speak for thernselyes." On November 11 last) at a political meeting in this city; Sir Joseph, referring to the critics who were advooatiing the policy now formally embraced by I Mr, Millar, Baid that if a different railway policy were insisted upon, a policy t that would produce 5 per cent., the result i would be disastrous, "and for what purpose satisfy a few critics!" VThc methpds of the critics," he -declared, i ''were the dealing in vague generalities | and in initiating idle rumouTs. If these i people were to assume the reins, and were I to apply their antiquated ideas to the railways, one of tho worst calamities that I could happen the Dominion would be I brought about." In a violent interview published on iNovember 13 last, 'he talked of the criticism of tile railways as "financial trash" and " 'the stinking fish' cry," and said : .V'-V;:• ::

"Ofoakers. who are opposed to tho GoveruffiopMro.flndltig fault tvlth tha 0 pur «»nt, policy, in «a outrageous aanaar, aeyer reooij;

nising that' the public throughout Now Zealand have freely declared that the railway service js, qi\ the, whole, ,a woll-eonducted one. . ■.. . I have on at least a scorg of times put on record the dofmito policy of the Government, and defondod it against tjio same sort of criticism to which wo are again subjected. . , . Not oven "is common honesty shown by many who think they sea some ohftneo of making political capital against tho Government by introducing the railways into the political areim to bp kicked about careless of whether truth is to be their' standard or not." Todays earlier bo bad said: ''It is tho deliberate policy ,of the Ministry, laid down long ago, that tho ; railways should yield 8 per cent,, and no; more. v . . It is laughable for' any critic; of our railway management to subtract from revenue , the total working expenses, add interest charges st 31, °v 4 nor cent, to the reminder, and call the resu.lt o loss due to 'mismanagement,' T,his rijswt j? the design of tho ClovertiiTiQni, whose policy it is to regard the railways (is a great instrument for the promotion of .trade, and who say it is better for the railway acootiut to' receive an annual instalment from tho Consolidated Fund tha,u to t&kohigher | charges from ;tho people who use the. rail-, ways." i.,-. What ie tho inference to bo. drawn from Mil. MiLWß's.donial of all the principles thus recently and violently laid down by .the' Prime.. Minister ? Simply that the. public has: been gulled for years, and would still ba gullod wore it . not that a steady stream of criticism has at last awakened- the Government to tho dangor of keeping too long to. a potfoy of fair words and false pretences; At tho same time, wo, believe that Mji, would in any cvont have endeavoured to sot the railway a on a sound basis. He way rely upon it that ho will have every honest aud prudent ma.ii in the country at his bacls if ,he goos firmly forward to euro tho grievous ills arising from the rottenness pf tho railway finances. If he cap carry out tho new policy he has laid down, ho will, aavo tho country a year, A further hint of the. new Minis-: tor's intention to make tbo policy of re> fprrn (i thorough one is, contained in bis 6tatoroent to pno of our representatives that tho Addington inquiry is to bo open to, the public, find that if necessary other inquiries will follow. In the presence of this now activity,' and in the light of this new hope, wo. can almost forget tho past f«ry of. the fnim Minister,' and his friends'at-the criticism that has received Mlii.- Mjimr's endorsement... The public will draw - its own conclusions as .to the worth' of the Prime MinisterJs plausible I speeches when they remember that Mr. Mjw-AR has cast, out as. plainly wrong the "3 per cent, policy" to the defence of I whichihis chief devoted so many.hours of i specipiis bombast... -V •