THE RAILWAY SERVIE.

Evening Star, Issue 18667, 23 June 1924, Page 6

THE RAILWAY SERVIE.

It is but seldom that Mr M'ViTly permits himself to xna-Ico statements on railway matters whore publication is likely to e[lS ue. However, on Saturday night, at the social which was one of the functions attaching to the annual conference of the Railway Officers’ Institute at Wellington, the General Manager of tho New Zealand Railways had something to say of general interest. Himself an indefatigable worker, ho is usually sparing of words, and (unless the Press Association report has been condensed too severely, considering the weightinoss of tho subject and the authority of tho speaker) in tho speech

which he made ho dealt too briefly with

subjects which one would gladly have seen him analyse in greater detail. The South Island, it seems, is a burden on the system as a whole, or rather it is not nearly “ puEing its weight ” as ‘ compared with the North Island. Tho explanation given by Mr M'Villy why the North Island system earned profits equal to £6 10s 6d per cent- on capital cost, as against only £2 2s 6d per cent, shown by the South, ; s that the South Island possesses level roads, also much poorer country with a sparse population. On the Canterbury Plains and in the greater part of Southland there -are undeniably level roads, permitting petrol transport to compete with the railways, and the same may bo said to apply hi some degree to Central Otago. Tot it' is a question whether motor lorry traffic docs not constitute even more formidable competition with the North Island railway lines than it docs with those of the South, As to jtassenger traffic, the population of the North Island is understood to be belter supplied with motor cars than that of the South. Yet the North Island railways are able to show three times as great a profit as those of the j?onth. One explanation is that, broadly speaking, the passenger traffic, is the mainstay of the North Island railways, while tho goods traffic is the mainstay of tho South, and carrying passengers is understood to be more remunerative business than hauling goods. The extent of the goods traffic on tho Now Zealand lines as a whole may he appreciated when it is stated that for every passenger carried the department hauls from Bcwt to lOcwt of goods (including live stock). Probably, apart from the free carriage of lime for agricultural purposes, a good deal of the goods arc transported at a loss, for special concessions and preferential rates on certain classes of goods have been secured, chiefly through political pressure, and presumably it will bo one of .the duties of tho Experts’ Commission to investigate why the railway ■system should ho required to shoulder such a burden, and why the freights tariff should bristle with anomalies in the way it docs. Some of the preferential rates, it. ia to ho feared, act in a manner which turns away lucrative business from the railways. There is, for instance, tho case of the rate and a-half freight, on imported timber. Naturally only the irreducible minimum of this is placed on railway trucks, Tho result, according to popular belief, is that those supplying native timber pnt up their price to a point which will undercat, and no more, the imported article so burdened. Such is a too general result of preferences in trade, and, the fear of something of tho kind occurring was one of the prime reasons why tho Imperial Economic Preference resolutions were rejected by tho British constituencies, together with tho Baldwin Government which espoused them. Only last week the chairman of tho Bank of Now’ Zealand mentioned that “saw-millers and timber merchants have done very well ” —and hankers have exclusive knowledge of their clients’ affairs. Mr M'Villy, however, hinted that the reasons why the South had been a burden to the New Zealand railway system were that a policy for which the Railway Department was not responsible had decided whore lines should be laid down, and that “in tho North Island, where tho principal business was, they had a chance to run things.’' This appears to be a tacit admission that decentralisation is badly needed—that the principle of running tho South Island railways from Wellington is unsound and wasteiul. Most business men in the South Island who are considerable customers of the railways will cordially endorse that view. Reference of points in dispute to Wellington is irritating and unsatisfactory. It fosters the undue nso of red tape, a striking illustration, of which was quoted in onr Saturday’s issue.