Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, JUNE 19th, 1922. RAILWAY FINANCES.

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 June 1922, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, JUNE 19th, 1922. RAILWAY FINANCES.

it used to be said of the old governing* families in England tliat their first commandment in their official capacity was to get from the public as much as possible. Few who- are familiar with history will dispute that for the most part, the old Tories and Whigs kept such commandment very faithfully. The Victorian era did not witness the end of such acquisitive tendencies, nor are these confined to the Motherland. , Individual families may find it less easy to> reap old-time harvests, but both at Home and in the overseas parts of the Empire; getting all that is possible

out of the State, which in other words is the general public, is the doctrine followed by all classes. That being so, the recent discussion at the Railway Officers’ Conference, concerning such public grab where the railways are concerned, was a hit, a palpable hit. The delegates declared that the railways were exploited unduly by certain interests, and the concessions obtained by the primary producers were especially emphasised. Although railway deficiencies in administration are not excused by the privileges too freely granted,•'fairminded critics of the Department must admit that the railway deficit is so extenuated to some extent. In earlier days of settlement, there was probably wisdom in a policy granting every aid to rural dwellers, but there is less, cause for such generosity nowadays, particularly as it cannot be claimed that farmers, as a class, remember these valuable helps, when demanding their prices for meat, wheat, or dairying produce from Dominion consumers. On the contrary, what the general public have to pay for food necessities raised in such enormous quantities in this country, makes a real burden on wage-earners in the towns and such high rates require a lot of explaining. The Railway Officers’ Conference unanimously favoured a remit advocating the withdrawal of many of the present concessions granted the users of the railways. The question is too big to discuss in detq.il, to-day, but on general lines it can be admitted (1) That many of the present privileges could be removed or diminished without injustice being done; (2) that the existence of such “cheap” traffic should be , given full consideration by critics—including journalistic—of the Railway Department, when grumbling about its deficit, and (3) that those who obtain any aid from public services should regard it as a first duty to make their produce available to the general public as cheap as practicable, and not based on what can be extracted for goods sent to- the Motherland.