The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 1912. ADMINISTRATION.

Waipa Post, Volume II, Issue 76, 12 January 1912, Page 2

The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 1912. ADMINISTRATION.

SIR JOSEPH WARD has come to a decision at last, and Parliament is to meet on the 15th of next

month. The question of which is the stronger party of the two will then be put to the test, and decided according to Parliamentary procedure. There seems to

be little doubt but that Sir Joseph will find himself in a minority and will have to hand over the reins of government to Mr Massey. The Reform Party will then have the opportunity they have fought so long and earnestly for, to show the people of New Zealand that there is something better than continuous govern-?

ment. In any case, we are convinced of this fact —and we u dge there are many more of our opinion—that what the country needs most of all, at the present juncture, is not more legislation (it would be well if we had a respite from legislation for some time), but what we do need badly is better and closer administra-

tion of all Government departments. No doubt, whatever Government is in power, continuity of tenure tends to laxness; and after twenty years of office we can scarcely be surprised if we find a looseness in administrative methods, but we contend that the worst fault of the Ward Government was its want of attention to the great and im-

portant work of running the machinery of government. In all the great public departments of State, Ave have the same com-plaint-want of attention. No one apparently has time

and thought to give'the thousand and one details which go to the successful working of any part of domestic, social, or civil gov-

eminent. Our lands want settling; we are continually losing hundreds of desirable and eligible settlers. We have the land, there is plenty of it, even in this district, that only needs lo be

brought into cultivation to give excellent returns. It should be somebody’s business, in a wellordered community, to attend to this matter, and bring the settler and the land into conjunction. But nobody ‘troubles about the matter. The young men leave the country for more desirable places, where there is not the

difficulty to get land that meets them here, and we lose the best of all settlers, the sons of those who have made their way in the country. The exports suffer, the whole country suffers, and the land is left to be overrun with rabbits and noxious weeds. Whatever government is in power, we say that it is high time that this state of things was brought to an end. And what is true of land settlement is true of the Railway Department in even a more aggravated form —if that is possible. We have here a great public utility which should be run to give the greatest possible benefit to the whole of the people. And what do we find. Simply, that instead of the comfort and convenience of the travelling public being studied, that a railway journey means every kind of discomfort and inconvenience it is possible to imagine. Trains are run late, luggage is lost,

goods are delayed, and if a complaint is made, weeks and even months elapse before it receives attention. This is a true bill, as every man knows who has had anything to do with the railway system of New Zealand. Who is to blame ? Certainly not the rank and file of the officials, who do the best they can with the difficulties they have to contend against. We put the blame where it rightly belongs, on the shoulders of the responsible

Minister. No doubt some of the heads of the departments are fossilised and need waking up, but that is certainly the work of the Minister, and should be seen to at once. We might have one of the finest railway services in the world, and given competent, wise and prompt management and oversight, we should have at all events a satisfactory service, for we are persuaded that the majority of our railway officials are good men, but they are often 'thwarted ~ and disappointed in their efforts to make the service a better one by their superior officers. We say this state of things must end. We have a right to demand a much better and quicker service of trains, and much better treatment than we at present receive. And we must have both. It is only because we are the most uncomplaining people in the world, that we have to put up with the present unsatisfactory state of things. But we have come to the end of our patience. And unless we are greatly misled, the powers that be recognise it, and whatever government may be in power, we

shall before long see the commencement of a much better and more up-to-date service on the railways, and we hope in other deparments