THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1915. RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE STOCK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16293, 28 January 1915, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1915. RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE STOCK.

The decision of the Government to import ten railway locomotives has met with some protest, principally based on the ground that the dominion should itself construct the locomotives that are required by it. Whatever validity the protest may be said to possess in the abstract, an examination of the considerations which prompted the determination to secure a certain number of locomotives from abroad shows that the Government was shut down to the oourse of importation, if the railway service is to be conducted economically and efficiently in the immediate future. It may be recalled that the report of the General Manager of Railways, which was presented to Parliament in September of last year, contained a recommendation that 20 locomotive engines should be imported from abroad at the earliest possible date, in order that the requirements of a continually increasing traffic might be ;jiet. The urgency of the case was shown in Mr Hiley's statement that no fewer than 72 of the engines at present in use are obsolete and in the interests of economical and efficient working should be dispensed with. Indeed, the General Manager went so far as to declare that " it is imperative that 33 of these engines should be scrapped and replaced at the earliest possible moment, the balance (39) being similarly treated as opportunity offers." The need being urgent, the reason for importation was thus explained in the report: " The engines now on order in the railway workshops are more than sufficient to keep the shops at Addir.gton and Hillside going at full pressure for the next two years, and the contracts already let to the outside engineering firm will similarly keep their establishment employed for the same period." During the debate in the House on the Railways Improvement Authorisa-

tiou Bill, this proposal to import locomotives was freely discussed and certain things in connection with it were abundantly made clear. Mr Massey showed, for example, that the importation of locomotives is no new thing. In 1900 seven engines were imported from Groat Britain, and in 1902 another 10 were imported from tho same source; whilst in 1899 16 engines were brought in from the United States and three years later America supplied New Zealand with 47 engines. Consequently, as many as 80 locomotives were imported within a very few years at that time. Sir Joseph Ward claimed, and with perfect justice, that when he caine into office ho substituted the building and equipment of railway construction engino workshops in New Zealand for the policy of importation. It is obvious, however, that the equipment of twelve years or so ago is, in view of the rapidly increasing railway tra.ffic of the dominion, inadequate for the requirements of to-day. The General Manager, for instance, referred in his report to the loss of time incurred in transferring engines built in the South Island for use in the North. To obviate the cause of these delays a workshop is to be erected and equipped at Newmarket. This cannot, however, be ready for two years. Another important project under consideration is the standardisation of the type of engine to be used on the New Zealand railways in the future. The crux of the modern traction problem, whether on railway, tramway, or motor 'bus is standardisation. When that problem once is rightly solved, tho rest is comparatively easy.

Two years hence, if efficiently equipped workshops are in existence, as is contemplated, in each of the islands of the dominion, it should be possible to overtake all railway requirements in the way of locomotives without recourse to importation. In the meantime, however, the pressing need of locomotives must be met, and it is with the view of meeting it that an order for 10 locomotives of the first class has been placed with an American firm. It seems to us to be a matter for regret that the contract for the supply of these engines lias not been secured by a British firm, but apart from the fact that the American price was the lower, the ability of the manufacturers in Philadelphia to supply the locomotives in 60 days as against the offer of the North British Company to deliver in seven months, may reasonably be said, in view of the urgency of the need, to be a consideration of prime importance. Mr Munro, the Socialist candidate for Dunedin Central, is, of course, seeking to make political capital out of the decision to import the locomotives that are imperatively required at the present time. He is striving to place upon the shoulders of the present Minister of Railways the responsibility for allowing the locomotive strength of the system to be unduly run down. Mr Munro asserts that during the three months in which Mr Myers was the political head of the Railways Department in 1913 a programme of locomotive construction was initiated which, if continued by the present Government, would have made importation unnecessary. Mr Munro simply echoes tho claim made by Mr Myers himself during the debate in Parliament last session. That claim was, however, effectively answered by Mr Herries, who showed that since he assumed office more engines have been built and placed in course of construction than for some time back. In 1912, the last year of office of the Continuous Ministry, 14 engines were built and 54 were on the stocks; in 1913 there were 20 engines built and 44 on the stocks; and last year 22 engines were built and 52 were on the stocks. The conclusion to which we are driven is that for some years past the railway workshops and the private firms in New Zealand have been unequal to the task of providing for the locomotive requirements of the Railways Department and that for some time to come they will continue to be unequal to it. Importation for present needs has clearly been forced upon the Department as the result of the policy that has been pursued in the past. But the Government is wisely proposing, by the establishment of greater facilities far the construction of locomotives in the dominion, to make provision whereby the requirements of the department may be satisfied in future within the dominion itself.