THE RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4855, 22 January 1894, Page 3

THE RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.

> The New Appointments, [Special to the " Stab/'J WELLINGTON, Jan. 21. Mr Thomas Konayne, one of the new i Eailvay Commissioners, was born in Ireland, and in that country gained his first experience in working railways. One of hia earliest appointments m New /iealand was district manager at Helensville, on the Auckland-Kaipara line, about sixteen years ago. The Conservative papers at any time since the session have confidently expressed the opinion that the Government had no power, under the Government Bailways Act, 1887, to appoint fresh Bailway ComI missioned, but I understand that the I answer to that is that the Interpretation i Act of 1888 enables this and other statutes j to be constructed in the present tense j where necessary, and not repugnant to the meaniDg - WELLINGTON, Jan. 22, Discussing the appointment of the Bailway Commissioner*, the New Zealand Times says that Mr M'Kerrow's re-appointment 'satisfies the requirement of continuity, I while the appointments of Messrs Eonayne 1 and J. L. Scott, supply the new blood which discussions in the House and elsewhere have shown to be, in the opinion ot ttoi vernment, necessary. No one can be surprised that a change has been made, for that has been long foreshadowed. |As to the particular details of the change, expectation differed considerably, for various reasons, and therefore there may be, in some quarters, considerable surpiisa. If we judge by the many wrong guesses put forward in the newspapers as " based on authentic information," the new appointments ought to astonish many people. ' They are, in themselves, we tnmfc, fairly good appointments. Mr Eonayne » an engineer o£ English training, and experience, and has been in the railway service since 1875, in which service he at present occupies the position of district engineer at Greyuiouth. He ie, moreover, we understand, one of the ablest officers in the Bervice. Mr J. L. Scott is a wellknown ironfounder of Christchurch. He is a man of considerable ability, of high integrity and business experience. He has not had experience in railway management, but possesses qualities which justify the belief that as a Commissioner he will not be less successful than Mr M'Kerrow, who was appointed to the Chief CommisBionership without any special knowledge of railway matters. It is not personally derogatory to Messrs Maxwell and Hannay, whose retirement we regret for personal reasons, that they have been superseded by Messrs Eonayne and Scott, any more than it was personally or professionally derogatory to them that Mr M'Kerrow, who had not experience, was appointed over them in 1887 to the Chief Commissionership* A certain public feeling existed at the earlier date, which the Government of the day considered it their duty to regard by giving the Chief Commissionership to Mr M'Kerrow; that feeling has increased and crystallised into a desire on the part of the majority of the eleotore of the colony for a change in the principle of railway management. The Government has made no secret of its opinion that, to facilitate this change, to which it gave shape in the Eailway Bill, the principle of which was approved at the general election, a change in the personnel of. the Eailway Commissioners was necessary. Thus it is that the retirement of Messrs Maxwell and Hannay is due to circumstances in no way affecting their professional standing. It i8 more their misfortune than their fault that they have to give way to a public endorsement of the Ministerial contention that new blood is necessary before the changes it is pledged to make in the system of management can be effected.

[Peb Pbess Association.] Jan. 22. Despite the statement of Ministers on Saturday that they did not intend to make the appointment of Railway Commissioners public, lengthy telegrams, giving full particulars, appeared in some papers the same afternoon. Theße must have been transmitted while Ministers were refusing to announce the appointments here. It is necessary to explain that when the Cabinet rose at 1 p.m. on Saturday, representatives of the Press Association and other reporters waited on the Premier, who told them that the appointments were to be made known, but that the Cabinet had left it in the hands of Mr Beeves to explain what had been done. Another Minister also said that the decision would be communicated to the Press. The Premier was pressed to give the names, but refused, on the ground that Mr Reeves was to be the mouth-piece of Ministers. Mr Reeves was therefore interviewed, but flatly refused to say anything, adding that Mr Seddon must have been misunderstood, as the Cabinet had decided not to publish the result of their deliberations. The reportero then went back to the Cabinet-room, where the Ministers were again assembling, and had an interview with Mr Ward, and then with Mr Reeves. Eventually, after three hours had thus been spent in endeavouring to persuade the Ministers to make up their minds, a final answer was returned that a resolution had been passed by the Cabinet to the effect that nothing was to be divulged at present. Nevertheless, in spite of this resolution, the whole of what had been done was transmitted to certain evening papers,, and reached them in time for publication. It is also necessßry to add that there waa no misunderstanding of the Premier, who decidedly said that the result would be made known on application to Mr Reeves.