THE CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 176, 27 July 1907, Page 4

THE CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM.

The co-operative system of constructing railways has very few friends left in this district, and still fewer, we believe, in the northern part of the Colony. It is the general impression, founded upon careful observation and calculation, that the North Island Trunk Railway could have been finished in half the time, and with an almost proportionate diminution in the cost, if the ordinary contract methods had been substituted for the co-operative system; and we do not suppose anyone will doubt that the railway, to Flaxbourne has suffered grievously from the fact that it has been let in fragments instead of as a whole. Apparently the most serious defect in the system is only now developing itself. Speaking on the motion to go into Committee on the Imprest Supply Bill in the House last night, Mr Herries drew attention " to the enormous increase in'the-cost of construction per mile. It -was stated year after year that the. : cost under the co-operative system was less than by contract; yet the cost of construction per mile had steadily increased, and he asserted that as the lines got farther into the country the cost would be further increased. He contended that it was clearly proved that

under the co-operative system the cost of construction increased, and he hoped that the large public works infuture would be carried out under the contract system." The Premier, m reply, recapitulated the well-known arguments in support of the co-opera-tive system, but we cannot believe that these ha-ye the validity they once possessed. A.ny benefits that may kave been enjoyed by a comparatively small section of the population have been hugely counterbalanced by the disadvantages heaped, upon the whole community by the grave delay in the completion of necessary public works, hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of which have been allowed to lie idle and unproductive,