The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1909. OUR RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 139, 10 June 1909, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1909. OUR RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

Mr Samuel Vaile, of Auckland, who is well known as a persistent advocate of the zone or stage system of railway fares, has recently published a lengthy article, in which not only is his system fully set out, but his views upon railway matters generI ally are given with refreshing candour. The system of charges which he suggests should be adopted appears to have much to recommend it, especially as it has been put into force in some European countries, and is said to be working successfully. Mr Vaile has hammered away at this subject for many years now, but successive Governments have been slow to adopt his suggestions, for reasons which may be found to be satisfactory upon examination.- This-is; a: matter which those ;in . responsible charge of the department must be left to decide. Should^ Mr Vaile ever become Minister for Railways he would then be at liberty to put his ideas into practice, but a sense of responsibility of his position would no doubt have a restraining influence upon him, which does not now affect him

leaves this. Spfeti subject of ? his, and descants upon railway management generally, that he furnishes much matter for comment. Everything in connection yrith our railways is bad, according to Mr Vaile. Disastrous failure is written over the whole. Much of what he asserts is not new, and has already been shown by the Prime Minister to -be inaccurate. Mr Vaile some- time ago primed a visiting Canadian professor with facts from his point of view concerning our railways, which formed the basis of an attack upon the system in a magazine article from the professor's pen. Sir Joseph Ward promptly exppsed'the fallacy of many of tlie'.conteh'tiohs of the Writer, and the latter subsequently admitted that he Was wrong in some important respects. It may therefore be safely assumed that when Mr Vaile writes about the "utter and miserable failure of our railways" his remarks require to be takenVith the proverbial grain_ ofv salt.;•; would scarcely have a r^ady'ansVer to the question— What would New Zealand be to-day without the railway system he so roundly condemns as an utter failure? It' is when we come to read Mr Vaile's remedy for the evils which bulk so largely "in his imagination that we discover the real reason for his, outburst. The system-is bad, and everything connected with it is | rotten because it is managed by Southern Ministers I No good thing can come out of Nazareth, which in Mr Vaile's opinion is synonymous with the South Island. Mr Vaile writes from "no provincial point of vieAv," but he is quite clear in his own mind that we cannot look toj South Island politicians to retrieve j the position. "Southern Ministers j have from the very first shown them- j selves to be selfish and incapable! leaders. We must insist that in future the portfolios of Railways and Lands shall be held by North Island men, for it is to the North Island men, railways, and lands that we j must look to rescue the Dominion j from the dangerous position in which our Southern rulers have placed it. Thank God the Dominion is equal to the task, but the South Island is not." Evidently the North Island is j the Dominion, the South is merely a useless appanage. The obsession of Northern men in this respect is mar- ' vellous! "Upon all North Island citizens depends the future of this Dominion," writes Mr Vaile, and it is remarkable that even a Wellington journal should be found to echo the same sentiments, and decry the South Island and its interests. That journal asserts that Mr Vaile is thoroughly sound in his contention that "no. more money should be wasted on further railway construction in the South." But Mr Vaile does not exactly say this, so that his disciple h as ; somewhat bettered the instruction derived from perusal of the Northern indictment. ;< Mr Vaile, in fact, gives us some little hope. He writes: —^':The provincial spirit in which the railways of the Dominion have been constructed, and the indisputable evidence given of the unfair, narrow-minded, and selfish policy pursued byi the Southern Ministers that have so long ruled over us, points clearly to the fact that it is the duty of the whole of New Zea- j land north of Canterbury, by means' of their M.P.Sy Railway Leagues, Chambers of Cosimerce, and other or-! ganisations, -tot combine, and make j it their demand and fixed policy that j no authorisation for the construction of any railway in Canterbury, Otago, ' or Westland shall begiven for many years to come/and that the %vhole of all future railway appropriations shall be expended north of Canterbury and Westland, and at least 80 per. cent, in> the North Island." Twenty per cent, for North of Can- i terbury and Westland J Thanks, Mr Vaile! .