N.Z. RAILWAYS POLICY AND EXPENDITURE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 53, 30 August 1913, Page 9

N.Z. RAILWAYS POLICY AND EXPENDITURE

A LOAN NEXT YEAR SUBURBS AND LEVEL CROSSINGS. Several hours were spent last night in discussing railway matters, the occasion being the estimates for the Department, which totalled £2,931,250, as compared with £2,547,441 last year. Mr. G. W. Russell wanted to know j -what was being done with the salaries of the officers of the First Division. He thought they should be put in tne same position as the officers of the Post and Telegraph Department. He added, that as far a* he could see the railways return ia the Budget showed one and a-half per cent, more profit than was showi Dy the Gazette returns. Further, he urg&d that experience had shown that the second express between Auckland and Wellington did' not pay. The expresses oh 'the southern line, on the other hand, fulfilled the function of local trains to a great extent. j Mr. Reed contended that the second Auckland express was a payable proposition from the first, and should never I have been taken off. The Department, he added, never properly advertised the | eeC6nd train. Mr. W. H. D. Bell asked the Minister what was hie policy in regard to suburban traffic? The Chairman ruled the question out of order, as being a matter of policy. Mr. G. W. Kuasell challenged this ruling, but the Chairman pointed out that Mr. Bell had introduced a matter of policy, which, under the Standing Orders, was barred from dis- | cussion on the Estimates. j Mr. Bell went on to urge that workers' fares should be allowed on the train between Wellington and Paekakariki. On the Manawatu line, he contended, i no inducement was held out to people to live in the suburbs. The residents | along the Hutt line had always received greater consideration than the residents on the Manawatu line. Finally, he urged that there should be a central station erected in Wellington. Pending the construction of such a station every facility should be given to suburbanites to reach the centre of the city, and not be dropped at the Thorndon Station. Sir Walter Buchanan complained that the Wairarapa trains arriving at Wellington drew up past the shelter, and he hoped the Minister jwould look into the subject, with a view to effecting an improvement. Dr. Newman also complained of the way in which suburban passengers are treated. It was all very well for the Minister to say that the engineer said it could not be done. If he was Minister of Railways for a week he would tell the engineers to do it in three days or leave the service. He added that the suburban dwellers were charged the full fare to Lambton Station, and yet they were put out at Thorndon, ana bad to I walk the rest of the way. The Minister, in reply, said he boned to be able to satisfy the First Division this session. He was bringing xlcwn amended regulations, and a new Bill with a new schedule. He hoped, indeed, to satisfy both the members of the House and the First Division. Last session as much as possible was done to satisfy the Second Division. In one way that answered some of the objections that had been raised as to the accommodation of the public. He thought, as a new Minister of Railways, his first duty was to- settle with the employees. He had to try and make them a contented body of men; he had to try and satisfy their wants before endeavouring to deal with the rublic. And it would cost a good deal to satisfy all the employees. Until he could finish with that, he could not meet the demands of the member for Wellington Suburbs and the member for Wellington East. He was not going to profess to do it, because the demands H respect of workers' trains running to Lambton Station would cost a considerable amount of money. That was the advice of his officers, v and he had to be guided by their advice. It would cost from £3000 to £4000 to do what the hon members suggested, "t think I'll be able to do it next year," he went on to say. • "I hope to bring down a Bill next year to borrow sufficient money to increase the accommodation at Auckland, Wellington, Palmerston North, Timaru, Invercargill and Christchurch, and other stations. We have got to do this. We have got to borrow money to meet requirements." Dr. Newman : You could do it tomorrow. Hon. Mr. Herries : No ; it is quite impossible. I cannot spend two or three thousand pounds to-morrow. , Dr. Newman : You don't want to do it. Hon. Mr. Herries : If I did* other things would have to stand. Here Mr. G. W. Russell slipped in a facetious remark about, next session, being election year. "Yes, replied the Minister, smilingly, "I'll look after election year. The hon, gentleman knows quite well how to run election year— Although he missed the 'bus." Mr. Anderson urged the necessity of providing more trucks for the grain traffic in Southland. Farmers had great difficulty in obtaining trucks for that purpose. Last year long lines of trucks were drawn up waiting to take stores to the camp at Suttori, while the farmers could not get their grain away. It seemed to him that there were not nearly enough trucks at the disposal of the Railway Department, and he contended that there should be sufficient trucks provided to supply emergency cases. Last season some of the farmers became almost desperate over the matter. The only way out of the difficulty was to raise a loan to provide sufficient trucks to meet emergency cases. He hoped that the Minister would give careful consideration to that matter. He also urged the Minister to leconsider the running of trains on the Seaward Bush line, so as to serve the workers who came into Invercargill for the week-end. Mr. Hanan endorsed the above views, remarking that the provision of railway trucks was absolutely necessary for the development of the district. Also, he wanted to know what the jlinister intended to do in regard to the carriage of children under five years of age. Mr. Poland put in an earnest plea for safeguarding the lives of 'the public at level crossings, and he complained that in many cases the Department was taking no steps in that direction. | Mr. Veitch wanted to know when the Minister was going to bring dowh the new regulations for the working of the Department. Unless those regulations broke down the barrier between the First and Second Divisions they would not give satisfaction. The present conditions, he said, had a marked effect on the efficiency of the service, and, in regard to the Second Division, led either to discontent or to men getting out of the service. Even when a man was promoted from the Second to the First Division he had very little chance of rising. Also, he urg<jd that the casual labourers, should be put on a better footing ; more of them should be put on the permanent staff. The dining car men should be put on the. permanent staff. In the course of hie reply, the Minister said he thought that next year thera would be no complaint about shortage of trucks in Southland, In regard to

level crossings, he said he would have to hang tip railway and road construction for about two years if he was to put an over or underground passage in every case. He was devising a system of alarm bells, and he wa6 considering a system of alarm bells which had been devised by the Southland County Council, under which motor-car drivers would see that they ought to slow down on approaching a level crossing. The cost of that system would, he hoped, be defrayed on a £1 for £1 basis. The class passed unaltered at 1.50 a.m.