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Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 195, 5 December 1876, Page 2

In another column we give an extract from a Canterbury journal which discloses gross mUmanagemeiu with regard to working of the railways in that Province. During ihe discussion in tiic last Session of Parliament upon the working and management of tlto railways in the various Provinces, every member who spoke upon t!.c suhjoct gave unqualified evidence as to the very superior urrangements existing upon t!ic CUago lines, of which Mr. William Conyeks is General Manager. It was currently reported some time back that immediately upon the abolition of Provincialism taking place, and the General Government taking over the railways of th-j Colony, the department would be divided into two brandies —Mr. PassMortc having charge of thosj in the North,

r.sul IMr. Conyf-hs full control over the lines of tlio South Island. The report gained general circulation, and was everywhere lvcL-ivcd with satisfaction. We do n>t know if it be st 11 int.ndcd to carry out the scheme, 1 ut that it should be, two very powerful ivnions may be urged. The 6ret is the incompetency and bungling which has been long exhibited by those under whom the chargj of the Canterbury lines has been placed ; and an equally cogent reason may also be adduced in the high standard of efficiency which the Otago iints have readied under the skilful management of JMr. Decidedly there must be something very rotten in the system carried out in the neighboring Province, when, i\\c further the metal links are laid down, and the more the snort of the iron hovso is heard, the greater delay in the delivery of the mails is felt. This is progression of a backward character; and when to this is added an exorbitant rate for freight, the privilege of railway extension would seem to be the reverse of a blessing. Wc certainly agree with our contemporary that the policy at

present pursued is a stumbling block in the way of the prosperity of the undertaking, and that as those'in'charge have so lamentably failed in their duty, thenplaces should be, without delay, filled by able and competent persons, who will quickly place the department upon a very different footing to what it has hitherto been.