Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1899. A STARVED RAILWAY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11124, 17 January 1899, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1899. A STARVED RAILWAY.

No section of railway in the colony is bo starved as the service between Napier and Wellington. The engineß are not powerful enough to cope with the traffic, they are old, the carriages are, with a few exceptions, antiquated and uncomfortable, and the permanent way has been so neglected since the railways were taken over by the Government that the time-tables have had to be extended, because it is not safe to travel at a decent speed. Tet this section is the most profitable in the colony, and carries the most traffic in proportion to its leSgth. 'This last statement may surprise many people, but the published returns bear it out. The Wellington, Napier, and New Plymouth sections are lumped together in the accounts, which is altogether against the AVellington-Napier section, as the New Plymouth line is notoriously unprofitable. Tet even with this handicap it easily comes first. The combined lines' have a length of 451 miles. Their earnings in December amounted to £33,879. and the expenditure was £18,210. showing a profit of nearly £35 a mile. The Auckland lines combined have a mileage of 357, the total revenue i was £14,440, and the expenditure was £8957, showing a profit of under £16 a mile. The HurunuiBluff section showed a greater gross return, but the mileage there is 1154, the revenue is £59,557, and the expenditure £35,406. so the profit was under £21 a mile. The West Coast lines in the South Island showed an insignificant profit, but those of Picton and Nelson did not nearly cover working expenses. Yet it is indisputable that no railway in the colony is so badly equipped aB that between Wellington and Napier, on no line are the trains so unpunctual, and on none are accidents so frequent. The Department is importing some new and powerful engines, but it is questionable whether the line would bear them, so they are being sent to the South Island, and the dast-off engines from there are being brought up for our line, The traffic is seriously affected by this neglect, as only those who suffer much from seasickness will undertake the overland journey to Wellington, with its tedious delays and uncertainties, the steamers which visit our ports offering so much more comfort to the average traveller. We do not think there is any other part of the world where aea travelling is preferred to that by railway, and there could be no stronger testimony to the mismanagement of this Bection of oilr railways,