RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18087, 11 May 1922, Page 6

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

A sympathetic reception is assured for any practical reforms in the management of the Mow Zealand railways. Dissatisfaction with tho services provided and alarm at the losses incurred have destroyed public confidence in the existing methods. But there will be little enthusiasm for Mr. Massey's scheme. The present general manager is to step down from his position as head of the whole department to a seat on a board, with three other members representative of the traffic, maintenance and locomotive branches. This arrangement was suggested in exactly the same form ten years ago and summarily rejected by the present Government, on the. ground that it would lead to divided control, compelling the Minister for Railways to assume the functions of the general manager, a position for which he would have no training and probably little capacity. Moreover, the proposal suggests that the general manager is not already in intimate consultation with the heads of the various branches. Revision of freight rates in the direction of reduction and the removal of anomalies, and efforts to co-ordinate State railway services and private motor transport arc thoroughly sound in principle. Equally welcome is the decision to appoint a business agent in each island. One of Mr. Hiley's first recommendations was; the appointment of a responsible officer whose duty would be to develop new revenue-producing business. This was done, but on the death of the officer the position was allowed to lapse. If two commercial agents can secure twice as much new business as one, the Government's proposal is so much better than Mr. Hiley's. But Mr. Massey's statement is silent upon the central point of the whole problem. Whit is the policy of the Government in regard to the management of the railways and what are to be the powers and the functions of the new board ? In his ■ last annual report Mr. McVilly said very plainly that the department was hampered by political influence. Has the Government decided that the system is to be run as a business enterprise on business lines, and that the new board is to have a free hand to make the railways pay? These are questions that require answering before the department can make an intelligent revision of its tariff or the new scheme of control command any confidence. But if, as Mr. Massey suggests, the present management is overweighted with responsibilities, it is a strange way to increase its .efficiency by putting into the head office two men from the branch responsible for the failure and two others who are engineers concerned with the purely technical aspects of rolling stock and track equipment. If the Government is satisfied that control of the railways by a Minister and a general manager cannot be successful, the remedy is surely to set up a business board in association with a capable railway manager, with full executive powers to formulate a successful policy and to carry it out.