The Manawatu Daily Times Railways – For Sale

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 7104, 13 March 1933, Page 6

The Manawatu Daily Times Railways - For Sale

Among the Bills that were rushed through Parliament in order that members of both Houses might get away to their homes before the week-end, the Government Railways Amendment Bill attracted most attention. The purpose of this Bill, the Prime Minister explained in the House of Representatives, was to enable the Government to deal with companies or individuals that might desire to run lines that were uncompleted or unprofitable. “It would require a good deal of optimism for a company to go in for such an undertaking, said Mi. Forbes with characteristic candour, “but possibly there may be optimists in the country who are prepared to take over a line after it has been abandoned by the Railway Board or the Public Works Department.” The underlying idea of this scheme appears to be to hand over the unproductive lines to private enterprise and so relieve the Railway Board of all its serious worries.

As the Evening Post reminds Mr. Forbes and his colleagues, their negotiations for the lease of sale of the country s railways will have to go much further than those they yet have indicated if any tangible results are to follow upon tlicir overtures. “An agreement for sale or lease,” it emphasises, “should cover also the rates chargeable for carriage of goods and passengers, the standard required in operation and construction, the terms of co-operation with the main railway system, and concessions to be given for reasons of public policy. The principles underlying these terms are of such importance that they should be fully considered by Parliament before they become even the basis for negotiations. Presumably the tennis of such sale or lease would have to be confirmed by Parliament, but wo think the basic principles should be defined before negotiations are begun.” One can gather from the Bill itself that it was but a crude and hasty production.

Off The Gold Standard

Excluding the United States, 34 nations have officially suspended the operation of the gold standard, according to records compiled by the United States DepartmciHfc of Commerce. Eleven others are virtually in the same category. Those officially off the standard have either reduced the values of their domestic currencies in terms of gold, or have prohibited the use of their gold in international transactions, and so caused their currencies to decline. In that class are the following:—Europe: The United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Spain. The Far East: Japan, India, Siam and the Straits Settlements. Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Others: South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Palestine, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, and Canada. Nations classified as virtually off the gold standard, though not officially, as having restricted the amount of foreign exchange that may be used, are:—Austria, Bulgaria, Czccho-Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Estonia, Rumania, Latvia, Yugoslavia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Several of these countries virtually tied to that of the United Kingdom by reason of close trade relations these comprising the three Scandinavian nations and Canada, Australia and New Zealand.