The Franklin Times PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON. MONDAY, JULY 14, 1930. BRANCH RAILWAY LINES.

Franklin Times, Volume XX, Issue 80, 14 July 1930, Page 4

The Franklin Times PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

MONDAY, JULY 14, 1930. BRANCH RAILWAY LINES.

Office and WorKs:

ROULSTON STREET, PUKEKOHE. Phone No. 2. P.O. Box 14

“We DOtlung extenuate, nor augr?s

set down Jn malice.”

THE Government, is to be congratulated on its decision to close a number of the branch railway lines which fail to pay working expenses. The

only thing- to fear is that they have

not gone far enough. On most of these lines the trains are to run three : days in the week, and those three days will cost a great deal pf money. ]| would have been better business In close down the non-paying lines altogether, and subsidise motor lorry owners under a definite agreement that they carry goods at the same rate as the railways have done. When a trial has been made of this new method it will probably be found that it is necessary to go further in the direction we have indicated. At present we must acknowledge that the Government has made a definite start towards economy. This is one of the first fruits of the depression, and if wc are capable of learning we shall admit that the depression is a blessing in disguise. The services in the North Island are to be curtailed to some extent hut the chief cuts are in Canterbury and Otago and as these will already have cost the Government the votes of those who cannot see beyond their own neighbourhood, the way is clear to reduce the duty on wheat to a small figure. In the early days of the Colony Otago and Canterbury were the comparatively populous and wealthy districts and they used their political power to bring about the buijding of these branch lines, which now after fifty years are being cut down to three days in the week. H would be interesting to know if they ever paid working expenses, and how long they have been a drag on the railway service. In all probability some of the lines we are building now will come to the same end, and we can only hope that it will not take fifty years and another depression to bring about their closure. The authorities have refused to recognise that a new method of transport has come into existence that has many advantages over previous methods. They have continued to build railways Hint were not wanted, and to provide the funds have been borrowing millions every year. It is the additional interest that is to be paid on these millions that now lays so heavy a burden on the country. The whole method of finance is wrong. The only control exercised by the House is' that il is asked in authorise a loan for purposes which are defined in the vaguest manner possible. When !he loan lias been obtained il is spent without further control of any kind. We

have seen in the last year or two Arapuni which was to cost £1,500,000

lets cost £2,500.000 lo date, and if it

is ever lo be of anv us» a further large amount must, he spent, on il. Mangahao was to cost under £500,000 but lias actually cost. £2.250.000. and its figures to 1927 show annual costs £158.799. annual revenue £124,4 50. Wafkarem-oann lias failed to supply the power that it was expected to gel from it. So far hydro-electricity has proved as disappointing as the railways, and I lie great discrepancies lietween estimates of cost and actual costs certainly throw much doubt on the capacity of the engineers to handle Ihejarge sums entrusted to them. The country has had a blind faith in Hie Public Works Department, not only lo carry oul its own work, but also to control the work of local bodies. Is there, a county in New Zealand Dial does not suffer from the interference of Public Works engineers? The Alain Highways Board is entrusted with £1,000,000 per annum to spend without being accountable to anyone for the manner in which it is spent. Its chairman is the Under-Secretary of the Public Works Department, who is at the same time the Chief Engineer of that department. He is also the chief

engineer of the Marine Department

lit; sits upon every commission that considers local questions. He is a permanent member of the Local Bodies Loans Board. If all the work done by the Department was satisfactory it would be useless to complain, although it is undoubtedly wrong to •oncetitrate so many functions, actually or nominally, in one man’s hands. This man must he a superman to be ante to discharge his many duties efficient!,y. The Department has been striving for some time to concentrate all engineering work in its own bands. No engineer in private practice had much show in New Zealand, and if he wished to continue his profession lie.must go abroad. If will be necessary for the Government to look closely into

the Department for eorUibiiy we shall.' not be able to spend On jl the money that we have done for some years. We could not continue the expenditure itthe results were all they should bet and we know that they are far from that. There may be economies to bo made in other departments, but the sum total of them will not amount to much. Mr Forbes has said that capital expenditure must lie rectified for the present. Capital expenditure is carried out by the Public Works De-

partment, and the country will be watching to see what steps are to be* taken by the Government, to restrict this expenditure. If no further loan is had the money in the Pubiic Works Fund will be exhausted. ft would certainly be a very serious matter to disband the army of manual workers that has been growing steadily for some years, but the time will come when it must be done', and the longer it is deferred the worse it will he in (he end.