RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1928, Page 8

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

It is probable that liad there been no election coming in the near future the criticism of the appointment of Air. H. H. Sterling as general manager of railways would have been a little less vociferous. The Minister of Education (Hon. R. A. Wright), who usually lives up to his reputation for plain speaking, put the position very clearly. Faced, as it was, with unsatisfactory results from the railways, it was the Government’s duty to reorganise the management. It had tried the experiment of vesting authority in a board, a method of control urged by .the British experts who investigated railway matters here, but found it had not produced the results that were hoped for. The reversal to one-man management being decided upon, the ' Government had then to find the man. Mr. Sterling was chosen on his previous record as an officer in the Railway Department, a brilliant one, and for his additional qualifications gained as general manager of the largest co-operative dairy company in the Dominion. Parliament was not sitting, and if it had been the executive must have accepted the responsibility for so important an appointment. There is not much force, therefore, in the contention that Parliament was ignored in regard to Mr. Sterling’s appointment. As Mr. Wright said, the Government desired him to return to its service, and he indicated the terms upon which he was prepared to do so, terms which the Government was at liberty to accept or reject. Cabinet considered it was in the best interests of the country that they should be accepted, and the appointment was made. There was little real criticism of the salary Mr. Sterling is to receive, and it is quite apparent that if he can bring the railways from a losing proposition to a paying one he is not overpaid. He has ability and experience, two qualities that were never more valuable than they are to-day. The task he has undertaken is a stupendous one, and the general hope will be that he will prove able to cope with it. Criticism of him or of his methods should be withheld until lie has had an opportunity of showing what he can do.