RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2637, 20 October 1909, Page 4

RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION

The “great Liberal Party’has evidently succeeded in getting the Government into a pretty tight corner for, despiteLSir Joseph Ward’s assurances concerning the ease with which he can get money from London, he is keeping an astonishingly close grip of the country’s purse strings. This is evidenced, not only in the retrenchment of the civil service, but also in his attitude towards railway deputations. Under the old order of things it was generally recognised that an influential deputation could usually extract a promise of some sort when public expenditure was asked for, but nowadays petitioners are sent away with the coldest kind of comfort, and sometimes with absolute refusal. Moreover, the latest dictum is that no new railway is to bo started by the Government unless the settlers interested are prepared to guarantee that it will, when completed, earn at least 3 per cent, on the capital cost. If it falls short of that amount the settlers must make up the difference. These are the terms submitted by' Sir Joseph 'to the petitioners for the continuation of the Otago Central railway to Roxburgh, and the Premier stated that he was prepared to have the principle extended to all the railways. It is good news that at last the extravagances of the present Administration have been brought to a halt, and that in this matter the Government proposes to turn over a new leaf. The fact that this spirit of economy has been induced by the financial stringency makes it none the less welcome. At the same time, it is difficult to see how any hard and fast rule can be laid down in the way that" the Premier’s speech suggests. It is the business of the Government to form an estimate as to whether or not a proposed line, or section of a line, will pay, and then to act accordingly. It has no right to throw this responsibility upon settlers. Farmers are not railway experts, and on the face of it it seems to us grossly unfair that they should he called upon to guarantee the cost of a railway. Of course, if we had a proper system of local government, the idea suggested by Sir Joseph Ward might prove practicable, for then settlers. ■who” guaranteed their own local lines -would be free from the liabilities of public works in other parts of tile country, but the . present Government persistently refuses to bring in a measure dealing with local -government reform. Without this it is difficult to see how the Government copld give effect to the special conditions it proposes in regard to railway construction. However, it is satisfactory to note 'that, from whatever reason, the Government _ is determined to see that the community shall not in future be saddled with any more of the “white elephant” type of

public works wliich have often been undertaken in the past. This new policy; it- may be added, should leave all the more funds available for the vigorous prosecution' of our own- East Coast railway, which bids fair to prove ■the most remunerative line in the Dominion.