THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1918. RAILWAYS MANAGEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16987, 22 October 1918, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1918. RAILWAYS MANAGEMENT.

Among the many urgent matters which were postponed during the absence of the Prime Minister and Sir Joseph Ward was the management of the New Zealand railways. The appointment of Mr. Hiley expired two months ago, and the arrangement for the extension of his term until the end of the financial year was made upon tho condition that the question of his successor should be decided upon the return of the national leaders. It will be impossible for tho Government to review the position without taking • into consideration the insistent public demand for a complete revision of the Department's present policy and a thorough reorganisation in the management. The change authorised by Parliament six years ago was long overdue. "We all know—and it is useless to shut our eyes to it—that there has been intense dissatisfaction right through tho country at the management of our railways," were the words with which Mr, Herries introduced to Parliament the proposal to import a general manager. That description is equally appropriate to the present conditions, after nearly five years of administration by Mr. Hiley. The importation of a general manager [ has not secured the improvements ' which the Government promised and the public eagerly anticipated. The fault is not wholly Mr. Hiley's. Measures of reform have been , severely restricted by war conditions. He succeeded a general manager whose authority, during , tho later years of his ad- . ministration, had been largely ' usurped by subordinate officials, and t he has never been able to recover t the full powers of his position. Com- c ing from the service of private com- c pani, 3, he had no equipment for a , conflict with political influences, and < for five years his efforts to reorganise 8 the Department on efficient, busi- \ ness-like lines have.been obstructed c by the passive resistance of self- i satisfied and complacent officials and r

discouraged by the indifference of a careless Minister. Mr. Hiley's annual reports have fallen from his original enthusiasm for reform to an almost hopeless resignation to the Department's notorious apathy towards public requirements and intolerance of all suggestions for improvements. There ,were sound reasons for engaging an English railway manager. The position had become, vacant, and no officer of the Department had the necessary experience to undertake the control of the Department or sufficient freedom from prejudice and tradition to reorganise the whole system as a national business to servo public requirements. But it cannot be seriously claimed that the railways are better managed to-day than they were five years ago. The efforts of Mr. Hiley to rectify anomalies, to introduce efficiency, and to secure co-operation between the construction and the traffic departments have been either deliberately stultified or carelessly ignored. The Department still treats the public as its natural enemy. The right of the public to necessary services has never been admitted. Gross inconsistencies in fares and time-tables still survive. Trains that would increase the Department's profits in the North

Island are withheld, while certain services that are run at a loss in the South Island are maintained. Every financial return shows that the De-

partment is Buffering from the reckless curtailment of services and the lack of economy in administrative

expenses. The difficulty is that Mr. HUey stands between a lethargic, indifferent Minister and' a Bet of officials aggrieved at the setting of a stranger in authority over them. It is no . exaggeration to say that the Departmental attitude is encouraged by the Minister at its head. The public holds Mr. Herries responsible for the direction of policy, but it has found little cause for satisfaction in his conduct of the Department Requests made to him for alterations or improvements to suit public convenience rarely receive even the "sympathetic consideration'/' which is the usual Ministerial refuge. His officers have an inexhaustible reservoir of reasons why requests should not be granted, and it has evidently never occurred to Mr. Herries that he is in a position to demand that ways shall be found to satisfy reasonable public requirements. In many instances the reception given by the Minister to public deputations shows clearly that his answer is based on some ancient decision, without regard to any change in circumstances. Public exasperation with this policy of opposition to legitimate demands has become so acute that the Government cannot ignore it any longer. If an honest effort towards improvement were made, there is no doubt that the Department could not only give satisfaction to the public using its services, but also greatly increase its contributions to the Dominion's revenue. The neces-1

sary reforms can be introduced from within the Department, but only if the task of reorganisation is en-

trusted to a Minister with sufficient

courage and capacity to ignore the claims of seniority, tho curse of so

many Government Departments, and select his administrative officers

among men of proved merit and ability. The staff of the Railway Department is generally of high professional and technical quality, and it is absurd to suggest that among the younger officers of the service

men cannot be found with the neces-

sary knowledge, energy, and initiative to conduct the Department on efficient and business-like methods, under the general direction of a competent,, experienced general manager and the supervision of a sympathetic, progressive Minister. War conditions in other countries have made reorganisation in public departments compulsory. The need for revolutionary changes in the New Zealand Railways Department is no less imperative. It has pursued a policy of negligence and inefficiency during the war, and now faces the difficult period of after-war conditions under a handicap of mismanagement aggravated by four years of drifting, in which difficulties have been welcomed as excuses

for inaction instead of being regarded as incentives to industry. The public will wait impatiently for some honest effort to improve tho existing conditions. The first step towards reform will necessarily be a rearrangement of portfolios by which Mr. Herrics will be relieved of a task which he has found both arduous and uncongenial, and the trans-

fer of the Railway Department to a Minister who will base his policy on a recognition of the fact that the first duty of the Railway Department is to cater for public requirements.