The Railways of New Zealand

Paper read before the Congress of new Zealand Chambers of Commerce, 4th February, 1902,

By Samuel Vaile, of Auckland.

Letter to Sir Joseph Ward

Introductory Note.—In 1882 I invented the "Stage System of railway administration, and placed it before the public on the 3rd January, 1883.

From the first the Department offered the most determined opposition to the new system being tried.

In 1886 a special Parliamentary Committee was set up to investigate my proposals. After an inquiry extending over nearly ten weeks they reported that the new system ought to be tried. This Committee was a powerful one, comprising the ex-Premier, the Minister for Railways, three ex-Ministers of Railways, and five other well-known M.H.R.'s. (See Parliamentary Paper, 1—9, 1886.)

In 1889, in an altered and much spoilt form, this system was put in force on the Hungarian Railways under the name of the Zone System.

In September last year (1901), I went to Wellington to give evidence before the Railway Committee. This evidence and the Report of the General Manager of our Railways thereon forms Parliamentary Paper I—6B, 1901.

The letter to Sir Joseph Ward, Minister for Railways, is my reply to Mr. Ronayne's statement.

Despairing of reforming our railway administration by other means, I have felt it my duty to place the true position of our railways before the public, and therefore prepared the following paper:—