D.—l

70

of the main line, of tho extra works, and of the extra stock; (3) Excess of cost of locomotive power, traffic hands, and control; (4) A wasteful system of working through running with light loads, the dead-weight being unreasonably in excess of the paying load; (5) The excessive inconvenience to the great bulk of travellers through slow travelling, the speeds having to be reduced as the country gets more populated, and each station is more used. It will be seen that, while we may not procure more traffic, we may be increasing expenses, diminishing the safety and efficiency of a line, and dissatisfying the public by having too many stations, and we are in some cases undoubtedly tending towards this unsatisfactory result. If we take Auckland to Mercer, we find stopping-places at two-mile intervals. Squthbridge Branch has stoppages at two-mile intervals. Hawera to New Plymouth has stoppages at two-mile intervals. Again, we have stations like Kingsland and Morniugside, 50 chains apart; Gore and East Gore, 60 chains apart; Upper Hutt and Wallaceville, 50 chains apart; Normanby and Normanby Extension, 50 chains apart; Selwyn and Norwood, 75 chains apart. These features are bars to improvement, and if the public demands them it cannot also have improved travelling. The tendency is to reduce our railways to a tramway system, which, while it may in some cases be satisfactory to persons with property contiguous to the line, will give dissatisfaction to the great bulk of the users of the railway, and be costly to work. Private sidings out of stations should not be allowed save under the most exceptional conditions. In a general way the public interest and convenience will be sacrificed to the individual if they are adopted. The steady growth of traffic is shown on Return No. 7 by the quantities of goods and stock and the number of passengers and parcels carried. During four years the tonnage of goods carried has increased 41 per cent., the parcels 88 per cent., the live-stock 70 per cent., and the passengers 10 per cent. The passenger-traffic shows the least tendency to increase on the Hurunui—Bluff: it has been almost stationary there since 1879-80 ; but on the smaller sections for the most part there has been proportionately a large increase. During the coming year the ratio of expenses to revenue must not be expected to be so low as during the two previous years, because the expenses will be heavier from the increasing traffic, the increase of renewals to the lines and stock, and the increased rates of wages clue to the scale of pay adopted in 1880, which has been operating to gradually raise the pay of the employes; while the revenue will not probably increase proportionately, owing to the reductions in rates and fares, which as yet do not fully show their effects. While in a general way the rate of wages is fully equal to the outside rates, in one class—■ that of the stationmasters —the scale needs some amendment to insure the services of intelligent and efficient officers; the numerous resignations in this branch of the service show that the inducements offered by the Government are insufficient. A common error prevails outside the service that any sort of person who has failed in other pursuits, or whose age or infirmities unfit him for active life, can be made a stationmaster. On the contrary, if the public services are to be satisfactorily performed, good training, integrity, ability, and activity are needed. To secure these sufficient inducements should be held out, so that the cadets and younger hands, when trained and taught, may find it worth while to remain in the service, instead of, as they now do, going off to other employment as soon as their services have become valuable and their duties responsible. I have, &c, J. P. Maxwell, General Manager, New Zealand Railways.