RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. (From Our Own Correspondent. ) Wellington, January 5.

Otago Witness, Issue 2289, 13 January 1898, Page 12

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. (From Our Own Correspondent. ) Wellington, January 5.

The Railway department ij very much in evidence just now, and whit with the b'ork on the Rimutaka, the overworking of the wei, and the several ca«>rs of allfgea " buckling" of rai's people are beginning to lose cobfldeuce in the much-vau:>«e<s management under tbe Cadman leghne. In conversion with an expert to-day, h- pooh-poohf d tbe alleged bueVlmg of rails, and said thafc if it did occur ut ail it was simply the reault of faulty pistelaying or bad rantenancy He said he would not bs surprised if co-opetative labour was re^poi.sible for some of the so-called buckling. He pointed out ti ab in Australia at ilia picsent lime the railw-.js were subjected to far higher l<-m.t.e-&kirf>s thani-f the case here, aod aUo that on tha Manawatu line, on Yjfcicb. the suu shines just as fi-rcely rs it does on the Government iims, we hear cf no accidents through buckling, and the trains run wifch recnsrkable smoo.h':ves. The pr-rvoa of the lice where (iip luckiing tba v . vearh- wreckad the ii-'.ux near Pahiatut is soppostd to have taken p'ac: had only jusfc beon token over from the Public Works dcparrm?nfc, no it is nob yet very clear who is to blame in this instance.

As ty the w:rk oh tbe Eunu aka incline, I have be<n making fuither inquiries, and I find that bejoml the shadow of a doubt the tnen have been overworked in several instances.* This is corroborat-d by the New Ze&kud Times, which, in commenting on the explanation of the department, Fays :—": — " Of course the efficprs of tbe Government Ra'lvvay department ace endeavouciug io make their ov?n story good, bub who that knows anything of tbe working of th 3 Ritnutaka iicliDe can accept such a stafsiceur, fcr example, as that of there being no risk to tbe drivers and none to the passengers uuder existing circomttapcfs ? Ifc is perfectly well known — indeed it is admitted by (he department— that the engi:'*«-driver& and firemen always suffer from the effects of being shut in in the Fell pngine?. During the present trying weather, and with sometimes as many as four eugines en thb train to pull it ovsr the mountain range, the snfferings of the men must be intense. We know that the passengers pre very frequently almost suffocated and that often the women pas^ergf-rd are in a fainting condition before the trains get through the tunnels. There is no desire on our part to act the role of the alarmist. We simply desire to place the facts before the public, and at the same time to impress upon the Railway department ths-t it is attemptiog au impossible task in endeavouring to force the traffic away from the Manawatu railway line on to that; of tho Government, with the idea in view of first o f alt depreciating the vslue of the company's prcperly ard then getting that lice for the State at the department's own valuation. That sort of thiag, as we said on a previous occasion, might commend itself to a Vanderbilt or a Jay Gould : it is not the sort of thing we excecfc from the Government of this colony." It is now staled to be the opinion of several railway officials that it would pay the department batter to take over the Manawatu C-'mpany'a line than to go to the expsnse of a diversion cf the Rimutaka line.

Auckland, January 5.

A gentleman who left Rotorui by train on Monday forencou states that when the train was between Manukau and Arahiwi two dreadful jolts were experienced, which frightened the passengers very much. When the conductor came round he was asked what was the cause of the jolting, which had nearly carried the train off the rails, when he replied : " Oh, I suppose the rails have buckled just there. We i'elfc it comincr an at that place." It is e?i-

deut ttat this i^ a somewhat fAtaiiiar occurrence on our lin^s, caused by faulty construction of tbe neim-icent tray. The buckling ot the railway line at Helensv:lle dees not stund alone, for th« line between Paeroa and Te Aroha a'so puff-red from the intense heat ; in fact, on New Year's Day ifc took tbe train an hour and r.-haif to negotiate the. distifco between the two t>'aces. Even thrush Ir-tvelling at aacli a siow pace, some of the !>3*s/;ngvr3 wore enrowu from their aesfci by th? con'inuous rocking of the can-iazes. Upon arrival at T« Aroha G iard Craig eouiidered ifc toi •rVhy io return to Paceoa when the line was in i.uca a state, but after a good denl of trouble f-wn gmgs of platelayers were s?fc to work and iucc"'dori in getting the lina back to its proper p. si 'ion, thertb/ t-nsb'ing the train to rfturn to Pae 01 ia tbe morning-. Afc Mornnsville the aama trouble was experienced, but the line is sgain sa r e.