PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
and that discipline is undermined and rendered difficult to maintain.' Short time is not the only cause which militates against the efficiency of the staff. 'In a few years,' says the locomotive engineer, 'all the present graded enginemen and firemen will be receiving the maximum rates of pay irrespective of the value of the work performed.' This system also obtains in other branches of the service. The Commissioner last year proposed a scheme by which the system would have been gradually altered without reducing the pay of any man then in the employ of the department; but, though the new regulation was actually gazetted, it was subsequently ruled to be invalid.
Victorian railways.My remarks on the railways of Victoria will be exceedingly brief. Mr. Mathieson has only recently come from Queensland to take up the Herculean task of reorganizing the Department, and reducing the deficit which has to be met out of the general revenue of the Colony. Criticism would therefore be out of place.
The following is a summary of the present position of the railways as compared with 1890-91:—
| — | 1890-91. | 1895-96. | ||
| Miles open | 2,471 | 3,122¼ | ||
| Gross earnings | 3,298,567l. | 2,401,392l. | ||
| Net earnings | 987,922l. | 854,917l. | ||
| Working expenses of gross earnings | 70·05% | 64·4%* | ||
| Deficit | 332,116l. | 583,685l. | ||
| Capital | — | 38,108,151l. | ||
| Rate earned, on capital | 2·72% | 2·24% | ||
| * Includes pensions and gratuities. | ||||
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