The West Coast Times. SATURDAY MAY 4, 1912. RAILWAY IMPROVEMENTS.

West Coast Times, 4 May 1912, Page 2

The West Coast Times. SATURDAY MAY 4, 1912. RAILWAY IMPROVEMENTS.

1 The now Minister for Hallways is startin': out on his mission in a manner which promises to infuse life and vigour into the very important department which is only one of bis responsibilities. Mr. Myers commenced by making cnrpiirics into the Main Trunk service which had been notoriously unsatisfactory and which had been growing rapidly to a state of almost chronic congestion. A lack of enterprise and a very short-sighted policy has marked the management of the greatest railway the country possesses, and during the last few months there has been a continuous chorus of complaint about the inconveniences of travel ami the poor facilities offered. Under present conditions people are not encouraged to travel, and during the holiday seasons, when they should havo every inducement offered them, travelling has Ik come a byword for inconvenience and vexation delays. Travelling for pleasure is surely the last thing to bo thought of on the Main Trunk line in the busy season. This unsatisfactory condition of affairs is a result of the very conservative ideas ruling in the department—ideas which, if allowed to dominate a private business concern, would lead to a very ensiderablo loss of trade and would stamp those responsible for them as hopelessly behind the times. It would be the policy of a private company tr. make travelling as attractive and convenient ns pos-| sible, and thus encourage the New' J Zealander to travel just as often as his pockets and inclinations allow. Public opinion had become very definite in its complaints about the Main Trunk line when Mr. Myers took office, and possibly the least he could do was to make a forward move and provide a second express during the busy season. Even now, when traffic is supposed to have shrunk to its smallest proportions, the Main Trunk expresses are inordinately long, showing that Mr. Myers is not taking a risk in commencing a second ‘Express during the summer months. With the remarkable rapid development of the country along

the Main Trunk,lino them has come an mgent need for increased rolling stock. Farmers and sawmillers have a good cause for complaint in the way they have he.cn treated in the past, and the recognition of their needs is a very tardy one. Judging from Mr. Myers’s figures an effort is to be made to remove this cause for complaint. Another very necessary addition is that of carriages. Some of the accommodation offered to the travelling public is a disgrace to civilisation, and would no the tolerated in any other country. There is room for improvement, also, in the design of our carriages. Even the best of them are a long way from perfect and compare very unfavourably with those in use in other lands. Mr. Myers would do well to study the construction of coaches in the more up-to-date countries before lie allows the department to perpetrate any more atrocities such as have been inflicted on the public in the past. It will be noticed also with pleasure that an important departure is being made in the appointment of two superintendents, one of whom will travel in the North Island and the other in the South, , whose duty it will be to report on loca'.

requirements to the General Manager. In this way many of the potty little inconveniences which arc so exasperating to passengers will lie detected early and will not bo allowed to roach the chronic stage as has been too often the case in tho past.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, As the Prime Minister’s public utterances are confined, on tho whole, to generalities, and his colleagues arc only ton glad to imitate his example, political gossip, it appears, is forced to turn again to the question of the new High Commissioner. Wo do not consider it necessary todiscuss the merits or demerits of the various leading politicians whose names are suggested for tho post, says tho “ Press.” Wc still hold that the Government have no" conj st ; rational right to make so important an appointment before they have proved that they possess the confidence, of tho country as expressed by Parliament. It will be quite time enough

to talk about the appointment of a successor to Sir William HalLJoncs when the Ministry can justifiably claim that they arc entitled to make tho appointment. At present all speculation on tho point is more heating of tli :■ wind. Apart from the general impropriety that would attach to tho unauthorised exorcise of tho Government’s power of appointment to important positions, there is this to bo considered, that the re-organisation of the High Commissioner’s office must be a leading feature in the policy of any Government that comes into power, and as tho Mackenzie Government cannot carry out a policy measure without

first submiting it to the. approval of Parliament, they cannot, without an infraction of constitutional principles, choose the man by whom tho reorganisation of the London office must be carried out. Sir, William Hall-Jones Is said to have given the Government a pressing intimitation of his desire to be relieved of the duty, but oven if lie cannot be prevailed upon to retain the High Commissionership for a few months longer, there is no imperative necessity for the immediate appointment of his successor. Wc have managed to got along quite happily for several months on more than one occasion with an Acting-Prime Minister, and we have no doubt that tho duties of the London office could be carried on satisfactorily for a time by an Acting-]] igh Commissioner. Sir William’s desire to return to the Dominion affords the Government no excuse for committing air improper and unconstitutional act.