RAILWAYS.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17384, 21 April 1928, Page 9

RAILWAYS.

HOW THE MONEY GOES. CONSTRUCTED & UNCONSTRUCTED < (Taxpayer.) The railway accounts for the financial year ended on March 31 last probably will not be gazetted for a week or two. Meanwhile it is safe to assume that when they do appear they will confirm the Prime Minister's prediction that the working of the lines for the 12 months would result in a loss of approximately £1,000,000. With this prospect in view the time surely is not inopportune to ask the Covernmont what it is going to do about the matter. Parliament has given it. authority to construct further lines at. a cost, of over £15,000,000, and the Prime Minister has proclaimed the necessity for the expenditure of millions, more millions and still more millions, mainly, it would seem, 1o meet the competition of the motor-ear and lorry. In view of what is going on in this respect in the Home Country, in the United Stales, in Canada and in other countries, it appears well-nigh suicidal for New Zealand to be planning for the expenditure of millions more in the construction of railways which, for the most part, would become only a further burden upon the taxpayers.

Minister's Good Resolutions. Already the unfortunate public is paying through the Consolidated Fund £500,000 a year towards the maintenance of railways, euphemistically styled "developmental lines," which never have paid their way and never will. Less than four years ago—perhaps, one may say, with the zest of a new broom —the Prime Minister stated that the policy of constructing new lines would be closely scrutinised by the Public Works, Railways, Agriculture and other State departments, and that "so far as possible" the construction of uneconomic lines would be eliminated. Mr Coates further stated that no line should be undertaken "unless it could be shown that interest on the capital could be earned within a reasonable time of its completion." Reverting to unpaying branch lines, the Minister said that "by counteracting competition and utilising cheaper transport methods the. working expenses could be reduced 1o a minimum and the revenue substantially increased." Though nearly four years have elapsed since the Prime Minister framed these pious resolutions, and though he has been repeatedly reminded of the fact thai they remain unfulfilled, the "developmental lines." which never develop, have continued to raid the pockets of the taxpayers, great and small, at the rate of some £500,000 a year. Still Unfulfilled. These facts are incontrovertible and it is not now a matter of distributing the blame for continued waste and extravagance, but a matter of providing a remedy. No good purpose could be served by making the blunders of the past the subject, of party recriminations during the approaching elections. All the parties are more or less responsible for the existing state of affairs, and they all should join in an effort to repair the position. That. perhaps, is too much to expect from human nature; but the Government, as the party in possession, very well might give the country a lead. It could begin by ridding itself of the delusion that the public interest is best served by suppressing all forms of competition with the railways. Then it could recall the £15,000.000 voted for railway construction with a viewto the reduction of the amount and a redistribution of the balance. Finally, it could find in Ibis wide world a system of management which would assure efficiency without daily interference from the politicians, and so free the country's railways from reiterated reproaches and the country itself from a grievous drain upon its resources.