RAILWAYS NORTH AND SOUTH.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 525, 4 June 1909, Page 4

RAILWAYS NORTH AND SOUTH.

i A bold suggestion has been putforward ' by.M-R. SaMued Vaile, of Auckland, vtho, as most people know, has for years made it his business to hammer away with wonderful persistence and patience at the grievous unsoundness of j tho railway finances. As we pointed, out the other day, in an : analysis of tho railway .returns for the past year, the most striking feature of the railways system is the contrast between the good return from tho North Island lilies and thh shocking failure of the Southern lines to return even a.moderate percentage upon tho capital invested. '■ The following table, in which "capital cost" is tho actual cost of construction of opginedliiieii, will rflake clear the position of things in the past financial year:— : . ,' Per- • Capital Net contago Cost. ' Revenue;- to ; £ . £ Capital. North ... 9,713,634, 416,000 4.28 : South ...14,587,955 396,179 '2.71 It is quite, apparent that the users of tho North Island lines' are being penalised for the: benefit of our friends in the South: It is this consideration which has inspired'Me. Vaile to make a proposal that no honest person can dismiss as unreasonable. "The Now Zealand railways," he says, "have not been built, or administered, in the interests of the Dominion, but in tho interests of a certain set bf politicians, the supposed interests of Canterbury, Otago, and We'stland. All tho rest'of New Zealand,, has been, and is still being, sacrificed'to these interests— as witness the Arthur's Pass tunnel." Me. Vaile accordingly: comes to. this very natural' conclusion: • Tho provincial spirit in which the railways of the' Dominion have, been constructed, and the indisputable evidence given of the 'un-1 fair, narrow-minded and selfish policy pursued by tho Southern Ministers wno. have so long ruled over us, points clearly to the fact that it is the duty of the whole of New Zealand north of Canterbury, by means of their M.P.'s, Railway Chambers of Commerce, and their organisations to combine, and make it their demand and .fixed policy that no authorisation for the construction of any railway in Canterbury, Otago, or WeStlabd shall be given for many years to come, and that the whole of all future railway appropriations shall bo expended north of Canterbury and Westland, and at least 80 per cent, ill the North ' Island. It ought also to be firmly insisted upon that further expenditure on that shameful political fraud, tho Midland railway, shall at once ccnse, by making the liost arrangement wo can With the contractors and closing the matter up. As to tho other 30 odd lines [.the reference is to tho 33 lines that cannot support more than two trains daily] they hiust be prnc-; tically or wholly closed, and the fjrent hulk of their rolling stock removed to lines really requiring it. Tlicy wero never wanted in the real interests of either tho Dominion or the provinces in which they wero built. Tho threo Southern pr6vinces will no doubt suffer greatlyi Well, 'hoy have sown ,the wind, uid wtf thiiy touit

Me. Vaile is unnecessarily drastic in the second portion of.his proposal relating to the practical suspension of services on the branch' lines, but he is thoroughly sound in his contention that no more money should bo wasted on further railway construction in the South. To our Southern friends, no doubt,' Me. Vaile 'will appear to be a monster of vindictiveness and parochialism, but'the little table we have quoted above ( as fcho latest of similar tables in past years, is a quite sufficient answor to. wildest outories. In the coming session of Parliament the North Island mombors must get that table by heart and resist every proposal to throw further into the sink. No doubt they may feel disinclined thus to antagonise Southern members, and throw them' into vindictive opposition to claims of Northern districts. That danger cannot be wholly excluded so long as the. railways arc uridor Ministerial control, and available for use by the Government as a convenient means of buying party loyalty with the public funds. 'It is a danger, however, whioh cannot be considered by those members who are desirous of putting the rail-, ways on a sflund national baßiß.