RAILWAY DEVELOPMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3860, 6 March 1928, Page 37

RAILWAY DEVELOPMENTS.

HEAVY EXPENDITURE AHEAD. Confidence in the ultimate success of New Zealand’s railway scheme and its effect on the future of the country as a whole was expressed by Mr J. G. Coates (Prime Minister and Minister of Railways) at the farewell social to Mr EL. P. West, the district traffic manager, on Saturday evening. In a spirited address in which he called for the support and co-operation of all officers of the department, Mr Coates said that the country would have to face a heavy expenditure for the next two or three years to place the railways on a thoroughly payable footing, but when once they did become firmly established there would be steady progress and prosperity, without any retrogression.

“ It is possible,” he told his hearers, “ that within the next few years the department will be faced with the hardest fight which has yet fallen to its lot, but I am certain of its ultimate success, for already it has achieved singular results. It has only been by making the ralways a department of the State that the present developments have been possible. For instance, private enterprise would never have gone the distance that we have reached in opening out :he country, in creating facilities for wealth and increased population. Private capital would never have been able to achieve such a position for 20 years to come. The policy is a sound one in national interests. At present we are meeting with a keen competition which means a loss of £1,060,000 a year. That is road competition alone. I am not referring to sea traffic at all. One remedy for this loss would be for Parliament to say * at there was to be only one means of conveying freights—the railways—but the people -of this country are not out for a complete monopoly, and I don’t think that would be a wise step to conf emplate. But we have to be wise to all possibilities. We must be first on the mark at all times to handle competition, and we *annot do this unless we have the equipment to give complete satisfaction. The losses that may occur through inefficient equipment are losses that the public cannot comprehend, but they are very real, all the same. To the visitor from overseas we must give all 'be attention that he would receive in other countries. We have got to live up to what other people want, for people who are travelling the world to-day have sufficient money to decide for themselves where they shall go. Wherever they go in other countries special equipment and special accommodation are available. In the course of tiro's the old routes become stale to them, and they turn to this country. We have marvellous scenery, which cannot be equalled anywhere, and which can be seen quicker than scenes in any other country, particularly on the Continent, and if we ’an complete the rai’ system conjointly with other transport- systems with which we are linked up a "reat avenue of business and opportunity is open for us.

“ This all means that we must have the rolling stock and the equipment to do it. That is one side. Then there is the commercial side. We must have dining cars, observation cars, afternoon teas, and so on. It may be the showy side, but it does count. Our shops, too, are all out of date, and we will have, and have had, to spend a. lot of money to bring this part of the whole concern up to a modern standard.” Mr Coates then expressed his complete confidence that in five or six years, if the present policy is proceeded with, and -if the services asked .for are completed, the department will be placed in a position where it can compete successfully with motor traffic, give satisfaction to the Dominion as a whole, and develop the country on the lines which make for prosperity and success. “ It is quite possible,” he added warningly, “that you will lose money for the first few years, but don’t let people interfere. Complete your scheme first. Although it may involve you in quite a number of millions —and indeed it will—the requirements are essential. Our difficulties, as a matter of fact, are not Isolated. They are world-wide. We have, however, got to meet our own obstacles as we find them. I am definitely of the opinion that we will ultimately get past them.” Mr Coates’s remarks were enthusiastically applauded, and his reception at the gathering left no room for doubt that as Minister of Railways he is, among the officers of the department, decidedly popular.