RAILWAYS DURING THE WAR

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 12 February 1921, Page 12

RAILWAYS DURING THE WAR

AGREEMENT WTH GOVERNMENT

HEAVY CLAIMS BY COMPANIES

BY CABLE-PRESS ASSOCIATION-COPYRIGHT

(Received Feb. 12, 9-15 a.m.) X LONDON, Feb. 11

The committee on the. railway war time agreement shows that as time -went on the agreement was amended m the direction of. bettering the- companies' bargain, resulting in an almost complete absence of reciprocity. It is believed the comonniec' claims ars now £150,000,000, including arrears— £90,000,000 for maintenance and £40r 000,000 for abnormal wear a nd tear. The control of the railways was cont tinued Tin justifiably, long. The committee considers that while it ,is impracticable to hold the companies' to strict, terms recommends the disallowance of maintenance charges above the 1913 quahtium. The companies should be compelled to use previous payments to overtake the deferred before further payments are made.