RAILWAY POLICY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 August 1926, Page 8

RAILWAY POLICY.

DISCUSSED BY ■■. MEMBERS, (BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 17. The lit. Hon. J. G. Coates moved in the House to-night that the Raiiw ay Report (presented some days ago) be referred "to the Government tor consideration. Mr H. E. Holland (Leader oi the Opposition) and Air G. A\ - 1“' (Hurunui), considered that the raduajs should not .be rim with «nrlca , - | gid icgard for proht-makmg. but that the service ought to be made to servo the whole of the people as far as possible hv reducing faros and freights. Air \Y D. Uvvsnar (Gisborne) comolnined that the original East Co-.ist route was being departed, from at one point hv making the deviation to Wa.-l-o-nmr He regarded this as Hawaiian tod, as it missed a stretch ol useful country the original route would h 's’ir ‘jolcp'b Ward (Invercargill), after declaring that the upkeep of the Neu Zealand railwav tracks- was second to none in the world, urged that the Gotcniment should decide upon requiring 3a per cent, as earnings from the radwavs givino- the people the benefit of cheaper freights, instead of increasing the rates tomafee a higher percentage of earnings, as was being done at p ent Sir Joseph said the nett earnings fast year were £430,000. As the years wont on the prospects were not too brioht, and it behoved the Minister ot Finance to 'look, ahead and examine the financial position thoroughly. A 1 though the railway accounts jeivkopt soDuratelv, a .summary of then results ffifti- in.«» He deprecated the policy of taking pit trains from the main through lines in the * with, and not pushing on with tie completion of the South Island trunk railway, which would open up a laro-e area of settlement- country He appealed for a night express daily from Invercargill "to Olirisfcclivii ch. Mr W. A. Veitch (Wangamu) urged that every effort should be made to obviate accidents to men in railway service Shuntuur furnished the niaSof these. He believed the reason for this was too much moving of the men W an effort to qualify for promotion, resulting in the men baving to take a turn at shunting when they had reached an age when they were not so active Air. Veitch believed the Railway Department would be wise to enter the motor business where, it could be made a valuable . adjunct to tl ’ e ] “, . wavs If the railways did not do this thev would find that motors would CUu seriously into their transport business Air At J- Savage (Auckland AAest) criticised the bonus system as suggested to ho applied in railway workshops declaring that the net result thereof would he a. reduction m the average man’s wagos. -, •» Air D S Reid (Waikato) contended that motor traffic could not compete successfully against the railways in long-distance transport. .Even wlieie the motors at present were picking the eyes out of transport work it was at the cost of the ratepayers, who had to make up in road repairs many times the amount they might he saved m freight charges. Mr. E. .). Howard (Chrvstcbuich South), referring to experiments which the department was making with battery electric cars and adapted motordriven vehicles, declared Ins belief that no finality would he reached until the Diesel engine was used for motive power. Rail traffic must be the cheapest for transport over 'long distances il scientifically applied. After tbe Primp, Alinister had replied the motion was agreed to.