THE RAILWAY SERVICE

Southland Times, Issue 18968, 15 June 1923, Page 4

THE RAILWAY SERVICE

Yesterday’s conference of local bodies has reduced the Southland demands in connection with the express service to definite terms. From the decision of the meeting we may take it that the province’s minimum requirements are a daily express connection with Dunedin and a through service with Christchurch on three days a week when the Mararoa is in the Wellington-Lyttelton ferry service. When the two turbine steamers take up the ferry running the position is changed, and a through connection with Christchurch daily is necessary to Southland if this part of the country is not to be penalised The department has not yet put forward any convincing statement of the financial aspects of the matter. It has suggested that the daily through express with the auxiliary service to Dunedin involves a loss of £BOOO a month, but before that figure can be accepted, the manner of its compilation should be made known, and the Chamber of Commerce should insist on having a detailed statement of the revenue and running charges involved in this full time-table. When the actual sum involved is known, it will be time to compare the cost of the service with the minimum requirements of the province. It cannot be argued that every portion of the railway system is paying or that the Department insists that every portion should pay. The general policy is that the profits earned on the main lines should make up the losses incurred in maintaining services in the country, and we are entitled to argue from this point that the situation of Southland in relation to the centre of the system entitles it to eay that cost should not be the only factor in determining the quality of the express time-table. Our demand is for a daily connection with Wellington when the fast ferry steamers are in service, and we do not think the Department can say that the demand is unreasonable.