Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NTOLA DIES SINK LINEA." THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1880.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 9146, 24 June 1880, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. " NTOLA DIES SINK LINEA." THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1880.

It will be necessary, before proceeding -to- criticise those portions of the Civil Service Eeporfc relating to other departments, to add a little to what we said yesterday about the railways and their management. The two main recommendations of the Commissioners on ibis branch of the subject are that there should be one chief over all the railways iv the colony, and that a reduction of not less than twelre and a-half per cent should be made on the railway wages and salaries, " though, it may not be desirable to be perfectly uniform in the application to all officers and branches of the service." Beading that paragraph in connection with other parts of the report, we understand the Commissioners to mean, that the reduction should be on the gross amount now devoted to railway salaries and wages, but that it should be effected by reducing the total number of officers and lowering the salaries of some others thought to be now too highly paid. With regard to the one permanent head the report certainly does not furnish evidence that the change would be for tho better. Granting for a moment that the Commissioners hare shown that the two present chiefs should, be removed, it does not follow that amalgamation of their offices should take place. If the colony was not separated geographically into two distinct portions, and trains could run without interruption from one end to the other, the case would be very different, but as it is the suggestion does not at once recommend itself to the common sense of the reader as likely to conduce to greater efficiency. There would probably have to be a deputy, which would, under the circumstances, create a divided authority worse than what at present exists. Both the chiefs appear to have had their hands full of work, and some of the shortcomings in supervision might raise a suspicion that they had even had too much to do. To make one man do work which had proved too much for two would be poor economy. We have not a word to say in favour of an official in Mr Conyers' position having an interest in a firm which is in the habit of contracting for supplier to the department over which he presides. If the fact be as seated in the report, and this connection has existed sitb rosa and against tho instructions or known wishes of the Government, there can be no doubt that the offender might properly be removed, because he would, by his underhand conduct, have shown himself untrustworthy. If the connection were known to the Government and they have tacitly consented to its continuance, then it should be at once put a stop to, but its existence up to the presenttime should not be made a ground For the removal of the official, unless it could be shown that he had directly or indirectly given unfair advantages to the firm in which his capital was embarked. On that point, we suppose, there will be little divergence of opinion Bat there yet remaias the important question as to whether either or both of tlit; railway chiefs l-ave been guilty of S'irh luiHrnaiixgemein, and have sbo'-vn such ignorance of their special business, as to make removal the only safe course

to adopt. We emphatically say that the Royal Commissioners have failed to make out their case. An exhaustive investigation might have proved them right, but that, they admit, is not what 1 hey have made. They wen tat railroad speed through' the country, and had not sufficient opportunities of judging on a subject of such importance "and magnitude. The Kailway Department, whatever may be its merits or demerits, has not had anything like a fair trial at their hands. Further investigation might have shown that some of the Commissioners' calculations were erroneous, and that even in the isolated cases where there has been waste and destruction, the blame ought not to lie with, either of tho two officials who the report pronounces as not fit for their high positions. To take one instance — the unnecessary exposure of carriages and engines to the weather. It does not appear that tho Koyal Commissioners enquired whether proper shed accommodation was in existence, or whether funds for its construction were available. The report says nothing about cost, and appears to assume that Mr Conyers had power to erect necessary buildings. Again, they give an instance of flagrant dishonesty on tlie part of certain contractors or their workmen with regard to some waggons de-' livered to the railway department, and which cost a large sum in the Government workshops before they were available for use. Of course it would at first sight appear that these waggons should not have been taken delivery of ; but everybody in the colony is aware of the immense and growing demand there has of late years been for that description of rolling stock, especially when grain and wool are in iransitu. It is notorious that pace could not be kept with the demands of the public for more truck accommodation. Wow it may well be, and probably was, the case that these badly built waggons were supplied at a time when the demand for them was urgent, and that it was far quicker to get the necessary alterations made in the Government workshops than to throw the lot back on the contractor's hands, and coolly listen to the outcry of settlers and mercantile men, whose produce was lying exposed at up-country stations along the line. The question of what ought to have been paid to the contractors is an entirely different one, with which we have nothing at present to do. We quote these instances as showing that the report is very defective, and that to come to a conclusion in a hurry, as a few of our contemporaries have already done, that railway management throughout the colony is rotten to the core, would be an injustice to the officials concerned, and if acted on might entail very serious loss and inconvenience to the public. That public, however dissatisfied with the facilities hitherto given for the transport of goods on the railways, especially in the South Island, have not been inclined to lay the blame on the shoulders of Mr Conyers. He has been generally regarded as a man who has worked energetically and to good purpose in railway matters, ever since he first entered the service of the Southland Government, more than sixteen years ago. We honestly believe that his advancement has been the natural result of his ability, and the report of the Royal Commission has not shaken our faith either in his energy or capacity. The report charges him with a want of power of organisation, but that is precisely where men well qualified to judge have over and over again pronounced him pre-eminent. It must be remembered that he has had to inaugurate a system, and in a very great measure to create and train a staff. That the arrangements are not complete, and that there have been mistakes, is ODly what might have been expected under the circumstances. Public opinion will probably call for further inveatigation of the system of railway management and supervision in force in the colony, but no Government would, without such investigation, act on the sweeping recommendations of theEoyal Commission. Our Wellington correspondent says that Mr Oonyers has many : friends in the House. He doubtless has, and many more outside, but we trust that the questions at issue will be decided on public grounds ; and they are of such grave importance in every way, and concern the whole of the community so deeply, that for once personal considerations will have but little weight if it be conclusively proved that the Royal Commission have formed an accurate judgment on tbo whole case. We shall deal with the remainder of the report in a future issue.