THE RAILWAYS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17425, 25 November 1930, Page 4

THE RAILWAYS

G 60,000,000 AT STAKE SHALL IT BE SAVED? The condition of the Dominion's railways litis been a subject of continuous discussion during recent years, and still is tt matter of grave concern to tho community at large, and to business men iu particular. ’I hose who have been brought into close contact with this important part ot the country s activities cannot fail to realise, that there is something vadicallv wrong with the system by which this great national asset is operated. The. report of the recent Royal Commission covered the whole ground so frankly and so thoroughly that it is impossible, with an open mind, to resist its conclusion that in order to obtain the best results from the. Dominion’s railways they should he removed from all political iiillnei.ices, and entrusted to thoroughly equipped experts .whoso aim would be, not to promote this particular interest or that, hut to obtain the best possible results from tlm national interest entrusted to their care and direction. In every country where State owned railways have, been a .success, their control litis been entirely divorced from polities. REFORMS 1 ELSEWHERE Canada provides a striking example, among many others, of the fruits of untrammelled * management. The various railway enterprises which now constitute the Canadian National system litjd gone from had to worse, to a hopeless financial condition. The Government of the day realised that drastic measures were needed and by the welding together of the various units into a cohesive whole, under a management absolutely untrammelled by political intluence, saved the, situation. Ihe result was striking and definite, and remains as irreltilablo evidence, of the great, value of the change in policy. Germany, Belgium and other European countries have achieved similar results from the abolition of political interference. Sir Henry Thornton, one of the. leading railway and financial authorities of the. day, has stated that the recovery in Canada, was made possible only bv tho exclusion of polities from tlie sphere, of railway management. It will his remembered that Sir Otto Niemever, writing to the Hon. h. A. Ransom, the aeting-Prime Minister, only a little, while, ago, urged in much the same, way as the Royal Commission had done, that New Zealand should keep its railways free from political inlluenec and its inevitable results. DEFECTIVE WORKING

There is another matter in connection with this railway problem which is legitimately open to discussion. The report of the recent. Royal Commission deals to some extent with tlie internal working of the Railway Department, and implies that, there is room for much improve moot in this direction. The directors of big commercial concerns lay down their policies after due deliberation and then give their executive head authority to develop them. The Royal Commission, however, found no arrangement, of this kind in the New Zealand railway service TRo report, tells us, indeed,' that ‘‘the powers of the general manager are restricted to tho very narrowest limits.” He cannot effectively discipline oHeading members of his staff, nor can he promote those of good conduct and proved ability. An appeal board may he till very well in theory, and in some eases it may he desirable in practice ; hut, when it serves as tin obstacle to discipline, and an impediment to service, it ceases to he a help to efficiency or an aid to justice. Here, surely, is need for’ a very radical reform.- .Many of the critics of tho £60,000,000 railway system m this country are ready enough—too ready indeed —to denounce the stall', from the general manager downwards, but if they were acquainted with all the facts they would realise that a very large.proportion of the troubles which beset the offirials are duo to a system which inspires neither ambition nor energy. THE REMEDY That the railway service is as effective as it is, despite all the obstacles it encounters, is much to the credit of tlm stall’ in general. In this connection the report of the Royal Commission deals chiefly with two important ’ points—the removal of political interference, and tlie institution of efficient' internal working,of the. department.-There are-other matters needing attention which have been placed before the. Government bjf the Royal Commission; lmt> the two reforms justmentioned are the channels by which the salvation of the Dominion’s railways must bo ultimately -reached: It, is not only useless, it is obviously unfair, to blame the. management, under existing conditions, for the plight into which tho railways have drifted. The res]ionsibility rests with the public-—with every adult, individual in the Dominion—to see that the railways again heroine a remunerative service to the community nit large, and no longer. remain an increasing burden upon the workers, tlie producers; and the distributors of fhe Dominion.'—Contributed by the. Associated Chambers of Commerce. ’