THE RAILWAY CUT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13812, 17 July 1919, Page 6

THE RAILWAY CUT.

ANOTHER PASSENGER REDUCTION. increasei/goods TRAFFIC.

(By Telega""iph.) , (Special to the Oamaru Mail.) 1 WELLINGTON.. July 16. \ The through passenger traffic on the < railways will be further reduced to 1 those obliged to travel, but some hope i of a slight improvement in the goods : transit was given by the Minister of : Railways to a large deputation from I Palmerston North, which for two hours ' discussed the coal situation with Sir l .Tames Allen and Hons. W. H. Herries, ] W. D. S. Mac Donald, and A. 31. < 3lyers. < The deputationists particularly urged i the Government to indicate if possible the duration of the railway cut so as 1 to enable employers to carrj on in the i hope of avoiding the discharge of hands. : "Wo are emphatically of the opinion that the Government should make further restrictions in the passenger traf- ; fie." said Mr Nash, the Mayor -of i Palmerston. "People can afford to stay at home, but a supply of goods is essential." Mr Field. 31.P. for Otaki, supported this suggestion. He added that it was nuite useless at this stage to blame the , Government for the trouble, but he wished, to point out that coastal steamers appeared to have plentv of coal, and that the Governor-General has been enjoying a pleasant trip in the South Sea Tslaiuls. using up a good deal of coal. Ho ureed the Government to help the sawmillors to keep going by financing them to stack timber at tho mills. Other speakers dealt with the necessity for supplying timber for soldiers' dwellings and also to complete buildings. particularly extensions to dairy, factories, and allow stud stock to be earned, as the Waikato and other parts of the Auckland district largely depended on 3fanawatu for stud stock. The swreostion v+v* made that supplies of Waikato coal going into iimber districts should be prohibited, as wood could be used. Sir .James Allen, in announcing further restrictions of passensrer traffic, said iliai when the Minister of Railways first proposed the railway cut he was of opinion that rho inconvenience imposed o;i passengers would be so greai as to restrict traffic, but this was not so. Consequently the Government woidd limit passenger traffic to essential travellers, utilising any saving for tile carriage of floods. The Minister of Railways announced lliar the present railwav stock of coal" is , Q OOO tons. "We are." he said, "goins to put on pnly a certain number of passenger carriages, and to only carrv those who are obliged to travel. We won't carry joy-rider'.'* A Deputalionist: Do you call racego'- rs essential? 3fr Herries: We won't put on extra accommodation for them. If people have relatives dvins in Christchurch. nbout the second week of August we have to carry th<»in to the funeral.—' (Laughter.) Referring to the use of '■o:i! for the special steamer service between Wellington :md Auckland iho Minister declared i hat express 'trains were no more able io run on a bunker of coal than they could ilv. .All • the coal that the Pateena used could not fake the exttrVs beyond Palmerston. as it would all blow up the eufine chimney. As for the prospers of alleviating the cut. the Minister said: The prospects are » little better than when the cut was made*, and towards the end of the month we may be able to do a liifle more in the way of taking goods. I'llt everything depends on what will happen in Australia. It will be a difficult matter to know what to open uo at first, and we will be. glad to' get advice from the Chambers of Commerce. >*p in the Vaikato what will have to be first tackled is the necessities of the dairying industry. Then there will he the question of providing timber for soldiers' homes and uncompleted build- j ings. I don't know yet if we can realise ; our hope to carry more at the end of J the month, but it is the best plan to restrict passenger and not goods traffic." Voices: Quite ritrht. The Minister: I'm glad to find the deputation agrees. We may be able then to solve the difficulties regarding stud stock, timber, and flax. In the dairying districts the first matter to be attended to is cement for factories, especially in Waikato. where big alterations are being made for the coming season. Someone outside, concluded the Minister, has suggested that we made the cut because we wanted to give Labor a slap in the face. 3lr Xash: It has been suggested that it was a go<yl move by tho National Government. Mr Herries: It, would have been suicidal to have done so. The fact was that the railway coal supply was not thire, and we would have gone on until we stopped altogether. A suggestion to open up the Mokau river, making the Mokau mine available was answered by the Hon. W. D. S. MacD-jnahl. who stated that the i-'ublic Works Department- estimated that the cost of making the. river navigable was £IOO,OOO. If the work were done it would give no present relief. and would take miners from other mines. *'We have 45 fully equipped minc-s with transport facilities, is it essential or reasonable," asked the Minister, "to start new mines and provide new villages in some inaccessible place?" The Hon. A. M. -Myers dealt with the Government's continual efforts to make up by importation the heavy di iiciencies in the New Zealand coal supply. The railways' average monthly requirements totalled 21,000 tons, but the supply dropped in June to 13,<)00 tons. "So far as the future is concerned,'' said 3lr Myers, "it is more hopeful. There is at present in sight about 70.000 tons of coal, due to' the efforts of the Government in obtaining American supplies, by vessels coming through the Panama Canal." The whole crux of the position, continued, the Minister, was in the fact that the output of the New Zealand mines to the end t)f June was 137,000 tons less than for the corresponding period of last year, and had it not been for importations increasing by oflsOOO tons, as compared with last year, things would have Leon much more serious. The output of the New Zealand mines must bo increased or we could not carry on. Anyone who suggested higher wages -without increased output was asking the impossible. Owing to the influenza restrictions only three Union Coinyany .steamers were available for coal carriage, but as soon as the conditions permitted every available ounce of tonnage would lie sent to Newcastle to augment, tho supplies. The deputation promised Milliliters to hold another local conference, and to make suggestions regarding traffic requiring preference when the service improves.