THE RAILWAYS COMMISSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17269, 19 September 1919, Page 6

THE RAILWAYS COMMISSION.

There is little prospect of anything of practical value resulting from the Railways Commission. The order of reference, as published to-day, shows that the inquiry is to be confined to the coal-shortage " cut made on July 2. All the speculations which were current during July and later as to the reasons for the curtailment are to be solemnly investigated. Practically it may be said that a commission has been set up to report whether the Railways Department told the truth or whether it issued a series of statements giving reasons for the abbreviated service winch were merely intended as camouflage. It does not appear to have occurred to anybody in authority that if the Department had been equal to its responsibilities, if it had been in high repute for business capacity, its word could not have been doubted or questioned. Had the inquiry covered the manifold failings of the Railways Department, which made its methods a by-word for years before the coal-shortage, it would have been considered worth while and the country would have had a good prospect of getting value for its money. A mere test of the veracity of the Department and an assurance as to the condition of the rolling stock will not take us a single step towards an adequate and efficient railway service. It is only a little over two years ago since a commission— which two of the present commissioners reported on the condition of the rolling stock and from one end of New Zealand to f v he other this' was voted the most superfluous and the most worthless inquiry ev*!r held in New Zealand There is an unlimited field for inquiry into the conduct of the New Zealand railways, but all the useful avenues are blocked by the narrow scope of the present order of reference. ~~