RESTRICTIONS AND RECORDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 22, 27 January 1944, Page 4

RESTRICTIONS AND RECORDS

When a fortnight ago the Minister of Kailways (Mr. Semple) announced that. permits would be necessary for travel by rail, he explained that there had been practically no coal production during the previous three weeks, and this fact, coupled with the depletion of stocks during the holiday period, had. made restrictions inevitable. .He also said that if there was an improvement in the industrial position on the West Coast.it might be possible to avoid the restrictions. They were, in fact, avoided temporarily1 (for about a fortnight) for the North Island, but from Monday next they are to be applied to the whole of New Zealand. Yesterday Mr. Semple said that the Government's action had been necessitated by the depletion of railway stocks during the holiday period, the fall in production from the mines, and bar trouble on the West Coast. In view of the inconvenience caused by the restrictions, both in regard to passenger and goods traffic, the public are entitled to more information than has so far been given. The Greymouth bar trouble is a factor for which the Government cannot be .blamed, but /it is only one factor, and it was not put forward as a reason when the restrictions were originally applied. The Minister of Mines (Mr. Webb) has been telling the people of Australia how well the miners of New Zealand

have been working and what new production records have been" achieved. The public, therefore, can be excused for a feeling of confusion when a fall in production over a limited period and the strain of holiday traffic suddenly produce such a shortage that it is necessary drastically to curtail services. The people are entitled to know why this is so. Claims of new production records may be justified, but then why the restrictions? Is it that the records are in brown coal and that hard coal production has declined? The curtailment of services so soon after the holidays also suggests that the Government has not shown sufficient foresight in spreading available stocks. Apart from the effect that the five-day rest .period between Christmas and New Year had on production, it must have imposed a greatly increased strain on train services at a time when traffic^was already at a high peak. A spreading of this compulsory holiday over a longer period would ', have helped to lessen this strain. What has happened is that stocks were so seriously depleted over a limited period in order to meet the demands of an abnormal number of holiday-makers that a Severe curtailment •of ordinary services, involving considerable inconvenience, has been necessary. This certainly does not indicate foresight and forward provision for public convenience that the people have a right to expect.