WHAT OUR RAILWAYS MEAN

Evening Star, Issue 23122, 23 November 1938, Page 20

WHAT OUR RAILWAYS MEAN

FOUNDATION OF PRESENT CIVILISATION INCREASE OF FARES AND RATES POSSIBLE [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, Nov. 22. The contribution made by the railways to the development and general welfare of New Zealand was emphasised by the Prime Minister (Mr M. J. Savage) when asked during an interview this evening if an increase in railway passenger fares and freight rates was contemplated as a means of eliminating the present railway-operating losses. Mr Savage said that the railway service was one of the few services that had not mcreased its charges. So far the Government had done nothing about them. “ The present scale of railway charges has operated for many years,” Mr Savage stated. “ We have been improving the service all along the line and have not increased the fares and freights. It is pretty obvious, however, that we cannot keep on that way for ever. 'No one ever talks of i good road being a drag on industry and the resources of the country, and, if that argument is sound in the case of a highway, I don’t see why it does not apply with equal force to our railway system.” Mr Savage said that inhabitants in all parts of the country had asked for railway communications. Apparently the people asking for these lines considered them economic propositions. “ Who could estimate the value that has been created by the railway system?” Mr Savage asked. “ I suppose it would run into millions. Certainly it has never been reflected in any railway balance sheeL When the men on the railways revive anything there are people who say that the railways can’t carry the increase, but when some people make fortunes out of the values created by the railways no one appears to worry. . ■ _ “ Our railway system :is New Zealand’s greatest social service,” Mr Savage remarked. “ The foundation of-civilisation in New Zealand was made possible by the railways, roads and the then existing forms of transport. When we talk of the railway system and whether it is a payable proposition or not, we should take into account what the railways mean to this country. If there are better forms of transport we should have them, but for certain classes of work the railways stand alone. Even today I should shudder to think what the position would be if the railways stood still.”