"HUSH HUSH” POLICY

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 852, 28 August 1933, Page 5

"HUSH HUSH” POLICY

Railway Accidents Cause Anxiety. TOO MUCH ECONOMY? (Special to the “Star.”) SYDNEY, August 17. The departmental report on the recent railway accident at Bowning produced one appreciable effect—the punishment of four railway employees and officials by removal to a lower grade. But it certainly did not help to lull the general anxiety about the condition of the lines and the rolling stock on which the safety of the travelling public depends, and the protests against the secrecy with which the department has enshrouded the whole business are bv no means confined to the newspapers. This resentment was intensified last week by an order issued to the railway staff by the Commissioner to the effect that all railway employees are forbidden to give information about the working of the system or to divulge anything about the way in which their duties are carried out. All these things are, to use Mr Hartigan’s favourite phrase, “ departmental business,” and the rail men are warned that neglect of this prohibition may have the direst personal consequences. Premier’s Escape. This “ hush hush ” policy is getting on the nerves of most people, and if anything serious in the way of a railway accident should happen in the near future it is safe to predict that there will be a great outburst of popular indignation against the Government. As Fate would have it, such a catastrophe was narrowly averted last week, and, curiously enough, it might have involved Mr Stevens himself. The Premier was travelling on the Albury Mail on a tour through the southern districts, and when the train was close to Harden, the coupling which attached the sleeper to the next carriage broke. The Westinghouse brakes acted promptly and the detached car was brought up all standing within a few yards. But it took threequarters of an hour to readjust the train, and the incident was, to say the least, unfortunate.

The “ Labour Daily,” which has been most insistent in demanding that there shall be a public and independent investigation into railway affairs, points out with some justice that “ This mishap was all the more serious in its import, as showing the defective condition of the rolling stock; for this particular train, in accordance with custom when distinguished passengers are aboard, was subjected to a specially thorough overhaul before departure from Sydney.” Maintenance Expenditure. It happens that this last little mishap occurred on the Cootamundra section of the line, not far from Bowning, where the mail train was derailed only three weeks ago, and the “ Labour Daily,” which gets much useful information from the officials of the A.R.U., has announced triumphantly that the departmental returns show that the amount allotted for maintenance on this section of the line has been underspent by over £2OOO. Economy again! Of course, the “ Labour Daily ” is not an unprejudiced witness, but there is only too much reason to fear that some of its charges against the Premier on the score of misguided parsimony are well founded.