RAILWAY POLICY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3099, 1 June 1917, Page 6

RAILWAY POLICY

WHY THE CUT WAS MADE ]

WHOLE CASE EXAMINED

CLEAR STATEMENT BY MINISTER Replying to a Christchurch deputation yesterday, the Minister of Railways made a very clear and vigorous statement of the policy of the Railway Department with relation to the reduction of traffic. The deputation had come to make an appeal ior the running of a late train between Christchurch and Lyttelton in the evening for the convenience of waterside workers, who, without this train, would be unable to do essential work on the wharves.

Had to Release Men. | The Hon. W. 11. Merries, in replying to the deputation; said he quite recognised the importance of the interests they represented, lie wanted to put first of all the position the Railway Department found itself in from a general point of view. It was continually being asked not only by the .Defence Department but also by the general public and the. newspapers, when they were going to. f'comb out" their Department with the view of sending the mer. to the front. As a matter of fact, the Railway Department had already sent considerably more than its share under the voluntary principle, but it had come to a stage when it had to ask for exemptions if it was going to carry on the full railway service that had'been given the public—and for some time he was determined to carry on that service, because lie thought the' people wanted it, and he thought it was desirable for the Dominion that it should be carried on; but various circumstances had arisen which compelled the Government to adopt another principle, and to ask the public to agree to shorter cervices and less conveniences from the Railway Department in order that the Department could liberate its men for militarv service. fie was not «oing to stress that point, because he thought, it was generally agreed that in tho national interests the .Department should endeavour to Telease men for active service; and everyone knew that meant that they must make some reduction in the service they were giving to the public. Then it came to him and his advisers to consider how they were loing to make those reductions. Tho Railwav Department was divided into maintenance, the locomotive department (which included the workshops), and tho traffic department. They could not vcrv well make a. "cut" in the maintenance department, except vhen works were-finished, and they discharged the men—mostly casual employees. But the maintenance of the lines must be carried on, whether one or fifty trains were run. The running track must bo kept in perfect order, because that was necessary for the safety of the public. Then they must keep on men for general repairs and for Tepairs to rolling-stock, etc.

Ways of Reducing. It came to this: that the (pain reduction would have to be made in the traffic department. When they came to look at the traffic,! the first thing that struck them was that it would not be bo in the interests of the Dominion or of the Empire to reduce the goods traffic. The goods traffic must be maintained, because it was necessary to get our produce to tho ports in order to send it to the Hcmo Country. That seemed to him to lie an argument that could not be got over. Then they wero driven to this: that tho reductions to be made must bo made in the passenger traffic. There were two ways of doing that. One way, continued the Minister, might bo to close many of thc-side lines of the Dominion—close them absolutely. But then they wore face to faco with tho difficulty that if they closed thera absolutely'that would interfere with the goods traffic. He thought everyone would agree that to close the sido lines would bo a, disastrous thing to tho pcoplo who lived on those sido lines. "Then," said Mr. Herrics, "the 'cut' has to bo made in the main trunk lines and in the suburban traffic." Suburban traffic was naturally tho place where you might make n. "cut," because most of. tho men of the Department were cmployed in it or about it. What tho Government proposed to do, and what it wanted to stick to, was this: To try and work tho suburban traffic in a certain range of hours so that they might not havo two shifts, or in some cases three shifts, as they had before. It, stood to reason that if they could hot carry cut that process they would not bo able to xclcaso -so many men. Supposing they worked from 7 to 7 with the main staff, then after that ley. would have to say to tho Defence Department: "We cannot release these men; they are necessary for us." That was the general principle tho ltailway Department laid down. They did not desire to injure any port in tho Dominion. It was a general jirinciplo which he thought could lie established by anyone who knew anything about railway matters that the way to leduce the service was to limit the servico to a certain number of hours in order to iclease tho men who would be employed otherwise after those hours. That was the principle they adopted.

A Bin Loss. "I can assure you," said the Minister, "it is going to cost the Dominion a considerable amount. Tho Railway Department will make a very considerable sacrifice. We are cutting out a great deal of our most important trade, and trade that is very remunerative to us. And we are doing it—and wo think the public will back us up—we are doing it in order to release men to go to the front. I regard the monetary position as nothing. Taxation will remedy that. If tho Railway Department does not give so much revenue, the revenue will have to be raised in some other way by taxation. We regard the. sending of men to the front as of supreme importance. Next to that comes the sending of produce."