FUTURE OF RAILWAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1930, Page 6

FUTURE OF RAILWAYS

means of SOCIAL -service. ' SAFEffU ARMING THE TAXPAYER “Our attitude is that we will continue to use the Railway Department as a means' of giving social services aS far as that can be done without an unreasonable loss and the placing of too heavy a burden on the taxpayers,” said the Ministers of Railways, the Hon. W. A. Veitch, in addressing a deputation at Auckland on Saturday! The deputation ■ - had complained of the recent ■ increase in the cost of suburban workers’. Week- ... ■ ly concession tickets and it was suggested that the department’s; latest move was having bhe effect of driving a large percentage of the suburban trains to the buses of the rival road companies. ' ; 1 ’ • I ■'<’f The Minister said he believed the railways hod a great future before them, both in the ccrvice they cotild perform and the profit that could be made in the years to follow. If he had £OO,O 00,WO he would not be afraid to risk it on the railways. The present period of financial stress would ultimately be overcome and New Zealand would return to conditions of prosperity, when the increased, business gained by the railways would make the service an entirely different proposition,' ' to what it was to-day. The railways were established by public money and their chief aim was to aid and make possible the development of ; the country. If that policy was departed from and the. department regarded purely as a business concern to make money out of the people, a very great mistake would be made. • • The changes he had made since taking over the portfolio of, railways were materially reducing the losses, said Mr.' Veitch. In the last three months a saving of £150,000. had been effected and if it could be shown that any feature of the economies that had been applied was not having the desired result, he was ready to consider any complaint or suggestion submitted to him. There were two extreme points of view that had to be considered. One was that , the railways should be run as d purely commercial concern, and the Other was that the undertaking should be regarded as one ready to make heavy losses in order to run uneconomic although valuable, social services. They must balance somewhere between the two extremes. To his mind the worst extreme of all would be to make it-.a purely commercial concern without consideration of the needs of the public in respect to the services-the railways gave. • Mr. Veitch said that the estimated loss for the present year was £1,300,000. That was a very large sum of money and his Object as Minister Railways was to try to balance between, the extremes of the two definite and opposing outlooks, both’ of which were pressing very hard on him. It was the duty, of the Minister to stand, betweeiL the two and to endeavour to act ,and to judge fairly 'between them, and in the end io do what he thought best.