Patea & Waverley Press. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1927. THE RAILWAYS.

Patea Mail, Volume XLIX, 7 October 1927, Page 2

Patea & Waverley Press. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1927. THE RAILWAYS.

THE railways stdteiiieut: that' was laid beford Parliament'on Tuesday last is a comprehensive document of some 50 pages, and contains some interesting and instructive information. 5 '• Tile .total , . miles open for traffic for' the year ending March 31 hist; if; States, were 3134, as against 3138,'an increase of but 26 miles for-the year, not a. very rapid rate pliprogress for the lines iihder construction. The capital cost to the country pf the railways • opened -and - ftn'opcned was £56,028,477, which represents an, increase ■; of £2,312,022 for the year. The igross eariahigs , tVehe £8,434,654, a decrease' of ’£26,168over those of the previoiis. year, whilst the not earnings > were £48,560 lesS.i- The figures are somewhat disquieting, and the position, as the Prime Minister declares, -serious, 1 ‘ so . serious that the public have only two alternatives to look forward to, vi/;. ;. (1) To carry on in accordance -with the' existing 'practicejv with - the' certainty of closing certain-ser-vices; (2) io. initiate an .intelligent amalgamation of . transport ir.tcrests which will make it- possible to give continuous reliable service and- cheaper freights.’’’ The Prime Minister goes on to say that the correct solution/ of the latter question is of such vital importance, affecting, as it does, the Avelfare of the whole country, that he is considering the advisability of fully investigating the general field of transportation in the .Dominion. Continuing, Mr. Coates says: “In ten years’.time it may therefore be expected that a definite line of depiareation will exJ ist between the kinds of ' work I that railways and road services are .performing (Ibe most suitable in each case having been selected afler practical and searching lesls), and that there will, ho an absence of wasteful competition between them in their respective spheres, such competition as now , exists being replaced by a sensible

'.c/S-oi'diiiaiioii of w6i‘k„, .between private operators and'rail-owned sendees by train., and road, equally applicable in its usefulness to tne requirements of the most distant farm and the most crowded city area.” This means, if it means anything at all, that tin railway authorities and owners of motor transports services will ■work together in the interests of ■the public, the owners of cars and lorries, presumably, putting on extra services where extra trains are given, and altering the times of their services to suit the trains. This, however, is flatly contradicted in the following paragraphs, wherein the Prime Minis! ei states: “The collection and delivery of train passengers and luggage from and to their homes or hotels by cars or buses which will be provided for at stations sc that they may dock right alongside the trains,’ and which will be Avorked fully in conjunction Avith train services as part of tin ordinary- routine of raihvay operating, is another development that I hope to see brought about during the peripd;named. - But it is in the conveyance of the country’s products a lid general commerce that I look for the most useful developments of transport to take place. A more thoroughorganisation of collecting and delivery services operating to ■ and from farms situated away from .the routes of .raihvay lines, Avith properly scheduled services and times for picking up and setting down, and Avith capacity for fuelling every kind of transportable commodity, may ;>c looked for. This will enable further favourable adjustments of rates.” Where does the “sensible co-or-dination of work between private operators and rail-OAvned services by train and road” come in? avc would ask. If the Government is ■to undertake the collection and delivery of train, passengers and luggage to and from their homes it must mean the elimination of pnvatc transport services and coordination, therefore, goes by the board. The suggestion that the railways, Avhich, Avith all their advantages of monopoly and longestablished services, cannot be made to pay, should launch out as motor transport owners is surely bordering on the impudent, for Avhat guarantee have the public that the motor services' will, not be equally as unsuccessful’ as vine train services? Moreover, thbre .is nothing surer than that the raihvay authorities Avoidd fix -the charges at such a figure as to endeavour to make the motor services a payable proposition ana the public avouUl find that the last state Avas Averse than the first as soon as competition avus eliminated. .The public has had a surfeit i i the past of iron-shod raihvay regulations and the suggestion that the-transport-by road in addition to that by rail, should be in the hands of the railway authorities Avill not be Avell received. “More business in politics and less politics in business” is a slogan that most people Avill approve of, in place of a more Socialistic one advocating the control of ail transport in the hands of JJie Stale. The dictatorial statement of the'chairman of the Raihvays Board at IfaAvelra Recently that the raihvays must be “run to pay, and not for the benefit of school-children, ’ ’ shows Avhat the public may expect if all transport is controlled, by the Raihvay Department. . Ret the Department concentrate on popularising, the raihvays by reducing freights and fares and the people Avill attend to the delivery of their goods and getting to their homes. Wc hope the day is. very far distant when control of all transport is in the hands of the State. With past experience to guide them the authorities Avould be avcll advised to lessen the number of' State monopolies rather than increase them.