RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION POLICY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 11

RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION POLICY.

TO THE EDITOR, cn 2«hrf!? ,e railway con . Btr uction scheme ™if™ J* *■ P r °6 ressiv c Government S,ff^ y *T,»°™ Pari r g more than 2"A , wait and Bee policy" adopted £* tfc-? rt™ 1 ' Party x- Apart from the fact that the prosecution of the schememeans the absorption of labour, its com- , pletion will put the Railways Department' bmtieB SeSM ° n increas ed earning posaiThe taxpayer must be prepared to meet the inevitable. Furthermore, if the Railways Department is to continue in competition with motor passenger transportation, the taspaying section of the community must stand prepared to place the rolling stock on an equality as regards comfort and convenience with the motor transport. The carriages, irrespective of class in which the public are forced to travel are a disgrace to the Dominion, it will be necessary to scrap these obsolete conveyances and replace them with up-to-date carriages. Apart from the tact that the present type of carriage is dTaughty and uncomfortably the sanitary arrangements, are disgusting and constitute a menace ito the travelling public. It is plain that, the present scheme io but the prelude to a general reorganisation scheme which will have to be faced •by whatever Government happens to be in oroce. The undertaking will necessitate increased taxation upon that section of the community best able to bear it. An alternative will show "grass covered tracks." The choice is immaterial to the non-taxpaymg section of the people.—l am, etc., St. Kilda. November 7. [The writer of the above letter apparently imagines that he belongs to what he calls the non-taxpaying section of the public. Because of his supposed immunity to taxation, he supports a policy of railway construction that will involve the Dominion in heavy losses which will have to be made good by additional taxation. He has yettc realise the economic truth that no section of the public escapes the burden of taxation.—Ed-, O.D.T.J