EDITORIAL COMMENT.

Progress, Volume III, Issue 2, 1 December 1907, Page 43

EDITORIAL COMMENT.

Light Railways. Xte most important problem of the interior of the Dominion is Ihe problem of fostering settlement by light railways. Deputations have approached successive Governments from all sides from time immemorial on this subject. Behind these deputations there is a solid backing of roadless country, in which thousands of the best pioneer settlers are buried, with their hopes of independence, in the sloughs of despond, cning to the Government to save them. The Government, alas, do nothing ; being on the one hand fettered by the heavy railway commitments, and on tne otner by the impossibility of making roads of any kind through country devoid of material foi road-making. The only solution lies in the cheap li ft ht railway. But the subject of these railways is little understood, a'ld therefore the practi "al value of them is not realised. It has given us the greatest satisfaction to be abl<^ to publish aad draw attention to Mr. Bl ick s aiticle, which gives a succinct account of what light Kiways are, and what they ,ay not : indies the countries where the3 r are most successful ; the kind of traffic they are best adapted for : gives in fact a comprehensive view of everything connected with them. When that subject is frlly understood, the < public will be able to disniss the question of whether the construction of these adjuncts co settlement may be left to the local governing bodies or to private enterpiise. For the former course there are all the arguments which go to support the immkipalisation of tran'wavs, water-works, power aad light On the other hand the advocates oi pri\ e-te enterprise are persuaded that the check is better in private hands against extravagance of management, while business methods

and rules are more likely to be accepted from first to last. It is not easy to forget"' trie history of the district railways ot the Dominion which, starting by private enterprise with great flourishes of trumpets ended in the bosom ot the Government railway system, which they reached by the path of extiavagant prices. Such, a tiling can not be permitted again in this Dominion. But there is time for the preparation of a well-thought-out measure for the consideration of Parliament next year. Under such a measure the local bodies and private individuals might combine with the help of the general Government in a cheap and prompt finance, and the conditions of running the traffic in accordance with the requirements of the main lines of railway of which the branch lines constructed by means of this finance would be the main feeders, could be thoroughly regulated, for the general good. It is really a case for the self-reliance on which the people of this Dominion have so often prided themselves during their distinguished history.

Waterpowers of the Dominion. An important announcement made in the course of his Public Works Statement the other day by the Minister of Public Works, ought not to pass without notice. It is to the effect that the Government has decided to lease waterpower to the public wherever there may be a demand for the same. This will relieve the minds of those who have been complaining of the dog-m-the-manger policy announced a few years ago, by which the Government, while securing the monopoly of all the waterpowers of the Dominion, persistently refrained from doing anything with them , carrying that policy of non-user even so far as to refuse permission to all applicants for leave to use the water powers on terms. One important application, that of the Waihi Gold Mining Company was refused, though the company proved that the use of the power would enable them to add largely to the number of men employed in their service. In the meantime the Government after getting voted by Parliament for preliminary work, discovered that to do anything really useful in the direction of utilising the waterpowers of its monopoly, it would be necessary to spend enormous sums of money. This m fact, involves a new Public Works Policy, with millions of bonowed money in its train. It is of course cleai, that however desirable may be the establishment of a scheme of waterworks for the transmission of power, and of irrigation water, all over the Dominion, and however profitable such a scheme must soon become, the time has not come yet for the stretching of the Dominion's financial resources to so gieat an extent. The only course, therefore, is to permit the public to lease the water power wherever they require it, and are ready to pay for it any reasonable price that may be asked. The value of such use is shewn clearly m the interesting article we are publishing about the Waipori scheme. This is the first of the kind inaugurated in the Dominion, and as the experience of its engineers is of the happiest there is no reason why it should be the last, ihus tl c iie-u departure announced by the Minister of Public Works may be consideied as certain to shortly lead to the most important results.

Airships. With the question of the airships o-i to-day we deal fully elsewhere, showing that there is on the one side a great outburst of optimism among the advocates of the flying art, and on the other an abundance of reason for discounting the predictions of the more advanced among them. The world of action has in fact thrown cold water on the -world of theory. This m both branches of the subject. In the " heavier than air " variety the main fact is that no competitors have been able yet to bring their machines to the very moderate standard required by the condition attached to the prizes offered. There is much preparation and there are some reports and descriptions ; for instance, that the American machine, that of the brothers Wright much vaunted by many and seen by but few, has been sold to a French buyer who is perfecting it, and there is a description of the machine which Captain Ferber of the Belgian army is building on the lines of Langley's aerodrome described m our columns last February. But there is nothing of a definite nature as to achievement. In the other variety, the " lighter-than-air," there is abundance of chronicle, which as positive evidence of failure is as strong as the other is as negative evidence of success. Briefly, the failure of Wellman's airship at the outset of its voyage towards the North Pole, points inexorably to the fact that a very great deal has to be done before the dirigible balloon can be trusted out of reach of shelter ; and there is not much to encourage the hope that the difficulties can be ever overcome with this variety. There is confirmation in the fate that overtook the British military balloon " Nulli Secundus " while waiting at the Crysal Palace for opportunity to get back to Farnborough, from which place it had started for a trip to London and back. This balloon made a sensational appearance over London, sailing round Sr. Paul's and manoeuvring with ease about in what may be termed the "upperland" of the city, and finally starting against a head wind for her point of departure. This head wind when it reached a speed of thirty miles stopped her further course, and she was brought to anchor in the grounds of the Crystal Palace, to wait for the wind to moderate. But the wind rose to a gale which so damaged the airship that she had to be taken to pieces and carted home ignominiously. It has been explained since that the ship was only a gigantic experiment, that she was not intended for another voyage even, having fulfilled her object in life by revealing certain defects of her type. But the fact remains that she proved unable when at anchor and in charge of a large staff of trained men, with numerous appliances of all kinds, to stand a gale of wind. That is the greatest defect in her typ3 ; and she revealed it by that trip of hers which began so well with the proud sail in mid-air from Farnborough, and ended so poorly m p ickages in a railway waggon. However, it may be said that while there is life there is hope. The balloonists declare that as the " dug out " of the ancient Briton proved the germ out of which has developed the magnificent liner " Lusitania " there is no unlikelihood m the theory that a similar development may come out of the dirigible or the aeroplane, or both. Who shall say them nay "> Certainly not the hundreds of men who are working as shown in the present issue of Progress in strenuous organised combination to force that development to a successful issue.