THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1909. THE SUBURBAN RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 13979, 8 February 1909, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1909. THE SUBURBAN RAILWAYS.

Mr. Millar announces that he has made up his mind cither to make the railways pay 3.1 per cent, or to insist upon Parliament voting a special subsidy to enable the Department to run trains at a loss. With this determination there will be a very general agreement, provided that the Minister for Railways sets to v/ork in a business-like manner and does not merely echo the archaic opinions of those Departmental chiefs responsible for the existing most ununsatisfactory state of the railway services. A Minister who sets out to do tho statesmanlike thing has a fierce battle with officialdom before him; and it will be very much easier for Mr. Millar simply to avoid taking trouble and to try to make a satisfactory railway balance by spending as little as he possibly can, particularly upon railway sections which i

would respond to expenditure, and would thus increase the perpetual demand for more trains, more engines, and more carriages, which so sorely troubles the Rip Van Winkles of the Railway Department. When Sir Joseph Ward resolutely forced penny postage upon New Zealand, nearly ten years after Parliament had authorised the Post Office Department to adopt it, he had not as great opposition to overcome as Mr. Millar will have in any attempt to stir the Railway Department into activity and intelligence. For, after all, when penny post had been once announced the battle was over. The wiseacms of the Post Office might shake their heads and prophesy failure, but they could do nothing more to dishearten and discourage the champion of reform. Whereas, in attempting any resolute railway reform, Mr. Millar would have to encounter the constant and stubborn resistance of officials who have persuaded themselves that every change will be for the worst, especially as it gives them more to do and involves them in new responsibilities. In the Railway Department are to be found as energetic and competent men as in any of the railway services of the world, but it is becoming notorious that certain extremely " influential officials are completely out of touch with the public and are hopelessly antagonistic to all practical reform. The Minister for Railways, as a man of considerable common sense, must be quite a.ware of this. In the matter of the suburban services especially, this official temper is constantly being manifested, as was so plainly demonstrated by the extraordinary attempt to prove that the OtahuhuDrury train was being run at a tremendous loss, the figures supplied to the Minister not giving in any way the actual earnings of the section. Those authorities who exert their influence in this reactionary direction, are the obstacles with whom any reforming Minister will have to deal.

When Mr. Millar says that tho railways must pay 3.1 per cent., he deserves and will have general approval, provided he pursues a business course in bringing about this good result. For example, we do not expect him to close up the numerous railways in the South Island which do not pay anything like 31 per cent, and are not likely to do so for generations. But neither do we expect him to suspend every suburban train which does not actually make a profit, provided that a profit is made on the suburban system to which the train belongs. And we would suggest to Mr. Millar that any Departmental official who advises him that every train in a popular suburban system should pay expenses by that advice displays an urgent need for superannuation. Any given suburban service must always offer certain facilities to enable those who earn their living in the cities to reside in the suburbs. Trains which do not pay often assist in populating a district with residents who generally use other trains. This is the A B C of suburban traffic organisation, and we should be ashamed of repeating it to Mr. Millar had not the reverse been evidently dinned into his ears by those who have hitherto kept our railways from affording adequate relief to city congestions and have actually promulgated the absurd theory that suburbs must depend upon tramway and not upon railway facilities. Mr. Millar has been Minister for Labour and is known to be keenly sympathetic with all movements having for their purpose the improvement of the conditions of the great mass of the people. We ask him, therefore, whether he can find any excuse for the management of national railways which does not bring trains into our colonial cities in* time for residents in the suburbs to start work. All over the Dominion 7.30 a.m. is a common starting time. Many thousands of Auckland workmen begin their daily labours at that hour, yet not a train comes into the city in time to enable them to live in the suburbs. Is this intelligent railway management? Is it not part and parcel of the same amazing railway methods as those which, in figuring the receipts of the Otahuhu-Drury train,did not count anything as coming from those who had purchased tickets outside that section and travelled over it 1 ? Then, again, we would ask Mr. Millar if there is any wisdom in insisting that mileage shall be charged when passengers are being carried round a, circle. The Auckland suburban trains to Onehunga are empty at the Onehunga end, and the Auckland trains to Henderson and the. Kaipara empty at the Auckland end, only because our railway managers arc not required by a reforming Minister to make such charges as would fill the trains instead of burdening the suburban service by these non-earning sections. As far as the suburban train service is concerned, Mr. Millar can easily earn with it not merely 3i per cent., but double that amount. But to do so he must have trains run throughout the suburban radius, at convenient and constant hours, not only sufficiently frequently during the day, but as early as work starts- and as late as social life continues ; and he must charge for taking people to and fro' and not for taking them round a circle. In other words he must place our Dominion suburban services upon an up-to-date basis and rescue them from the sadly unsympathetic hands into which they have evidently fallen.