Railway Mismanagement.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4614, 10 April 1893, Page 4

Railway Mismanagement.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—l, Johnny Jay, of Blanktown, being a shareholder in the New Zealand Railway Company, feel myself alighted iv not having a circular sent to me by your morning contemporary, to aßk me whether I am satisfied with the present mismanagement of my property, and whether I don't think the present Commissioners are as well able to mismanage the affair as' what the Government would be ? Now, had I received such a circular from one whom I believe to be as clever as a cart load of monkeys, judging from the facb that five out of every f>ix appear to bo sent to either friends of the Commissioners or enemies of the Government, I Bhould hav^ answered, Yes ! I do believe that Commissioners can mismanage equally as well as the Government, but the worst of it is, when they show signs of softening of the brain, the people have not the power to remove them, like they could their servants the M.H.R'e. The idea of handing over .£15,000.000 worth of property to three men for a term of years to do as they please with, and the shareholders not to have a say iii the matter, is too much for me to sanction. Whoever the Commissioners are, they should be responsible to Parliament, although I think they should have a free hand to a certain extent, and should not be in fear of being removed at the whim of any one Minister. But on the other hand, thay should be willing to shape their policy to the wishes of a majority of the M.H.R's. For instance, supposing it was the wish oi! the shareholders to try cheap fares, and to reduce the charges ou the carriage of grain, &c, and try to run full trains instead of empty ones, and they instruct their members to try and bring about; a much needed reform in railway matters, then it would be the duty of the Commissioners to carefully consider tho. wishes of their employers, and not Bnub them in the way they have done in the past. I fearlessly: asaert that commerce i 3 seriously crippled, and in many instances utterly destroyed through the moat absurd high freights charged for the carriage of goods. Perhaps many of ycur readers are not aware that goods aavo been landed in Christchurch from London cheaper than the railway would carry'them from Dunedin. Thia Commissioner business is a matter that should bo well weighed by the shareholders, and commercial men especially, before another term is given to irresponsible persons to do as they please with the biggest as3.ot we poßßees.—l urn, &c, J • J.