THE MISMANAGEMENT OF OUR RAILWAYS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 303, 16 September 1921, Page 5

THE MISMANAGEMENT OF OUR RAILWAYS

, (To the Editor.) Sir,— Having been from home lately I •’ have not had an opportunity to take notice of another long letter by “M.J.F." appearing in TH® DOMINION of September, 2. I think I hit the mark pretty » correctly when I . described him as an "economic sundowner.” It would be perfectly useless to take notice in detail of his ridiculous rodomontade about his superior knowledge and my supreme ignorance, as any glib-mouthed ranter can carry on that game to an endless extent, and nobody bo any the wiser or. the'better for it. lam not out to banter a lot of useless words and phrases, which are so much; dust and smoke to cover up the real issues. "M.J.F.” is evidently a railway agitator who is out to suck the blood of the general taxnayer to the utmost of his capacity. He would rather be a parasite than a producer. Then the bulk of his "facts” happen to be fletious when looked into. Mr. Maxwell was general manager on his own. before he became one of three Commissioners. Mr. Hilcy was an imported expert, brought out to make the railways nny interest on their-cost; but ho soon found ortt that it was not an export that, was require.’ but a political toadv, to run between the men and the Minister! He had sense enough to see that the only good ho could do was to

talk nicely and draw his £3<X»O a year with n, good grace. He did a bit of sueeulnting ns well, made money in New Zealand, and Went back to England a hannv and highly-amused personage. MtM'Villv. who had been assistant manager i>t .£lOOO a year, was promoted: to be General Manager at the same salary ns was nnid to the imported expert, name-, ]v, .£3OOO a year. .As Air. M'Villy.has lieen.tl years in the service, and as the Railway Superannuation Fund Act. 1902. stipulates the amount of retiring allownnce nt two-thirds of the saldry, it follows that this luckv railway oflicer can retire and draw .£2OOO a year as long as he draws breath! Let i find out how much Mr. M’Villy has paid into the fund from first to last, and the smallness of amount, m proportion to the pension, will stagger even that light-brained "sundowner”! An ordinary official receiving, say, from ,£t to £5 a week in wages, if he has rocched the retiring period this year, will have pail into the fund a little more or less than £l5O, and on the strength of that email contribution ho would be entitled to it retiring allowance of quite £3 per week, -s long as he lives. Your readers will notice that this man would- get back his ,£l5O the first year of his pension, and supposing he were .to live- for another twenty years, and this folly to bo perpetuated that long, ho would have drawn over £3Hofi as interest on his .£150! It is such men as "M.J.F." who have done tho greatest injury to our Statemanaged railways and coal mines. It wsuch ns 119 who got tho men to strike when the Prince of Males came hero —a low., dirty action!. Now, 1n addition to our railways. which have cost over £37.(190.0110. being in what is practically a state of insolvency, the men’s wages have, been increased by an enormous sum; and tlie Railway Superannuation Fund, which was •farted with a grant of .£25,000, and then supplemented with anol tier £25,600. making £50.000, ns a starting contribution by the State. And ever since this "selfsupporting” fund has been hanging round flm necks of (he poor taxpayers, like a hungry leech, sticking the life-blood out of th? country. And yet "M.J.F.’ would like voir rentiers to believe that firn money is all contributed by th.e mon and boys employed! Why. even last year the State nad to make a grant of £50.000 tn make ends meet, and'Mr. Mas«ey stated that £75.000 would be likely tn bo needed this year. Lot *M„T.F." cease to sneer about, "biitterfat":'but rather should Im bear in mind that it was just "butter T £af and nothing -rfse that saved this country from absolute ruin, no longer ago than this year.— J am, etc., TARANAKI.