RAILWAYS AND LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14854, 4 December 1911, Page 6

RAILWAYS AND LAND.

. . . ...— ♦ — In whatever direction we look wo find overwhelming evidence of incapacity, and blundering on the part of the Government. " Our railways are notoriously badly managed,;particularly in the North Island. There • is a want of engine power, a want of rolling stock, a want of system, and a want of efficiency. The comfort and convenience of ' travellers are ignored, and the requirements of the country settlers are neglected. Instead of contributing to the settlement of the country our railways are run as if they were meant to retard , it. The rates .charged for the carriage of ! goods are a hopeless and bewildering j mass of anomalies and absurdities. I Nor is there much possibility of any improvement so long as the present system of political control prevails. I In all other /.countries in the, world railway management is in the hands I of the highest expert knowledge pro- j curable ; in New, Zealand ; we- are content to leave it in the hands of ; any chance politician who by the fortunes of party politics happens to get a seat in the Cabinet, and who may know as little of railways as of the supposed canals in Mars. Not only are our railways scandalously managed, but political considerations are permitted to influence , their construction. ' The treatment which the North Island has received would alone justify the expulsion of the . Government .from office, for the Government has persistently turned a deaf ear to its repeated* entreaties for increased railway ;/communication, and what it has given it has given in a grudging spirit. 1 The Government, too, stands accused of neglecting land / settlement in the North Island. Alii its extenuations ; and excuses and feeble protests go for nothing in the face of the . unchallengeable- fact /that millions of acres of waste < unroaded land are lying to-day idle ; and ■ uncultivated instead of being converted into smiling farms, the happy homes of an energetic . and industrious agricultural community. r New Zealand is crying; aloud ". for population, but: the Government ia| doing/ nothing to attract the stream ;of British emigration to these shores. On the contrary, as a direct result of its administration arid policy people are ; leaving the 'Dominion. s The Goyernrrient,' however, '/continues! to act as if it were bewitched. It goes on borrowing and spending 'and -increasing taxation as if the patience of the taxpayer had no.end. And it professes to; be puzzled why/ the cost of living has increased and why the people no longer receive the old Ministerial platitudes with deafening plaudits. The reason, as we have said and believe, is that/the people are growing tired of a Government that has become effete through long tenure •of ' office/ - and > which seems incapable of meeting/■,; the / pressing needs of ;' the l Dominion with energy, sagacity and statesmanship. . •;