The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. London Representatives R. B. BRETT & SON 34, NEW BRIDGE ST., LONDON, E.C.4. SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1930. A RAILWAY INCUBUS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19120, 12 July 1930, Page 8

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. London Representatives R. B. BRETT & SON 34, NEW BRIDGE ST., LONDON, E.C.4. SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1930. A RAILWAY INCUBUS.

IF UNEMPLOYMENT could be regarded as a Government responsibility, wholly and solely, the Government would still be justified, if not in dismissing surplus men from the railway or other services, at least in distributing their labour in a manner that would ensure the greatest return to the State for the wages expended. That, in effect, will have to be done with the railway workshops employees whom the Minister of Railways has very humanely decided to retain in the service. But on the other hand, the absorption of surplus labour in private enterprise wherever possible lightens the burden of taxation and promotes the general prosperity. This must he the Government’s apology for economies in all departments of State, and from this angle the public must view such economies. The Minister’s suggested “ rationing ” in the way of a week’s service without pay, from the general manager downwards, may he an admission of the justice of complaints of overstaffing higher up. He will have to effect economies somewhere. Workshops reorganisation under the Coates regime has left him with a white elephant W’liicli involved an increase in repairs alone last year of £256,000. A CHANGE OF SITES. A CORRESPONDENT makes the suggestion to-day that it would be sound economy in the long run to transfer the Cashmere Sanatorium for consumptives to Alpine surroundings and shift the Christchurch General Hospital to Cashmere, away from the fogs and damp weather of the flat. The suggestion sounds daring, hut we are inclined to think that it points to the right course in regard to both institutions. Certainly the Christchurch Hospital should be moved to a hill site, and it is a pity that the Hospital Board did not go on with the proposal to purchase land near the foot of the hills. Some day the community will take longer views on this subject, and will regret the huge sums of money that are being spent on hospital expansion under highly unsuitable conditions. PENAL RAILWAY FARES Twopence half-penny a mile is a pretty high rate for railway travelling, and the public may be pardoned for thinking that the Railway Department has taken leave of its senses in fixing the new schedule of Sunday fares on the Lyttelton line. The rate is a penal one, and as there are no other means of communication -with the Port except a very long detour over hill roads, the department seems to be exercising its monopoly to squeeze the travelling public. The distance is six and a quarter miles, and the return fare is two shillings and eightpence. For an infinitely longer return journey to Sumner the tramways charge a shilling, and although this rate is too low there is a wide margin between the Tramway Board’s ideas and the Raißvay Deparlment’s ideas of what 'is a fair thing. The tendency should be to reduce fares on the Lyttelton line rather than increase them. PENNY WISE. POUND FOOLISH. Bookmakers are “ absolutely straight in their dealings with the Income Tax Department,” although under a statute of the Coates regime they could be called upon either to prove that their money was come by honestly or else go to gaol. But that, of course, -would be killing the goose that lays the golden egg, and not only the Income Tax Department, hut the Post and Telegraph Department as well, relies on its friend the bookmaker for a substantial share of its revenue. That, however, is only one side of the picture. If bookmakers were denied the services of the Post and Telegraph Department, and were outlawed in fact, as well as in law, there might be a shrinkage in the revenue of some departments, hut it would be more than offset by an expansion of revenue from legalised betting, and the community would gain vastlyin self-respect over the transaction.