Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1912. RAILWAY POLICY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 97, 24 April 1912, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1912. RAILWAY POLICY.

If the Mackenzie Ministry manages to live longer than ite oriticfi predict, at least one member of it, tho Hon. A. M. Myers, will have very busy day«. It is possible that some of the work may be passed on to a less-burdened colleague if the Government survives the onsets of next session, for with his Finance, Defence, and Railways, Mr. Myers has more thaa enough to claim all the time and energy thai he can give to public work. He is setting himself some tasks in the railway sphere, and his objects deserve 6ucces6. He has ajinoimced that he will take special care to improve suburban services, and this must be good newe to the residents of Wellington city and suburbs, who have been more heavily handicapped than their friends of the sistea* cities. At a cost of about £330,000 the Government has doubled and straightened the railway line and made a road between Petone and Wellington, but, as Mr. Wilford remarked in the House of Representatives last year, the people are still waiting to see the splendid benefits which were to come from that enonnouß expenditure. Of course the advantage of the road de luxe, at a cost of £100,000, is apparent, but the new railway is much the same as the old. railway for the purposes of ordinary suburban traffic. Grievances, well backed by evidence, are continually being voiced in relation to both the Manawatu and Hutt lines, and the complainants decline to b© content with, the official excuses and vague generalities. The old official attitude has incensed even one of the Ministerial journals, which has thus exclaimed in the role of candid friend: "To remedy grievances and repair defects will entail an enormous amount of work on the new Minister of Railways, especially in view of the fact that his departmental heads aro deficient in th« qualities of enterprise, resourcefulness, and initiative, and that the live men are hampered' by the inertness of colleagues who should have been retired long ago." The Ministerial organ defended the Railway Department, as a whole, before the elections, but now properly demands "common-sense business management.*' Mr. Myers promises such management if Parliament or the people will give him time. Trains attract settlement and settlement attracts trains, but usually convenient transport facilities have to be provided before city people will make their homes any great distance from the centre of congestion. Tho Government has been waiting for an increase of settlement along the Manawatu line as a E«c«s6ary preliminary to the provision of a good suburban service, and it has waited long. The pioneers to do the suffering while the Government waits can ,fihd a more pleasant dispensation. Mr. Myers has decided to try the common•ense experiment of arranging services for suburban areas in advance of settlement, in the business belief that any initial loss will be made good eventually by the expansion of traffic promoted by the improved service. The Minister is also keenly watching the express service between Auckland and Wellington. He has noticed the steady increase in the traffic, such a development as the rail-* way authorities did not anticipate when the line was opened. He is making provision for this growing passenger business by ordering more rolling stock. He is making arrangements for a double service to start on Ist November, and continue definitely till 30th April, and permanently if the traffic warrants it. We are confident that, if this service is run at intelligently as the Minister given promise that it will be, the double service will be maintained. It is desirable to have the running time cut down a* much as possible, consistently with safety, for on© express, and the other train could do th© 6low©r ''hack work." On general policy the Minister will no doubt mainly reserve himself for the Railways Statement.' We are hopeful that he will depart radically from the practice of his predecessors in presenting these important figures, which in the past have not enabled the shareholders to perceive the actual condition, of the huge enterprise. Soon after Mr. Myers was appointed, an Auckland citizen wrote to The Post: — "Without touching on party politics, it is well known that in ,the Public Works Fund and in the Railway Department bookkeeping there are methods that are considerably questioned by business men. For instance, the Railway Department now shows an item of nearly half a million annually for 'additions to open lines' financed from loan moneys. It is questioned if much of this amount is not merely the replacement of old buildings and wornout materials, which should be met by a depreciation fund provided for out of railway earnings. Mr. Myers has the correct knowledge of what constitutes sound finance, and he has the firmness to insist on the right methods, but always in a tactful way." The scope for the business acumen of the Minister has been often indicated in these columns. The people want a frank, clear statement of the present financial position of the railways.