Passing over the chapters devoted to the labor department, the state farm, the factory laws, the shop acts, the 8-hour day, industrial arbitration and co-operation, all of which are of intense interest, but of such a nature as to preclude brief statement, we come to the Government ownership and operation of the railways. The year 1894 Prof. Parsons calls “the glory year of land resumption. Government loans to farmers, nationalization of credit, labor legislation and judicialization of strikes and lock-outs.” It was in this year that another important move was made through a vital change in the national railway policy. In 1887 a commission system was inaugurated, under which the roads were put in the hands of commissioners appointed by the Governor, with the assent of Parliament. This did not prove satisfactory to New Zealand. The commissioners managed the roads with a view to making a good financial report. They were looking for profit. In the Parliamentary debates it was charged that rates were so high that firewood went to waste in the forest, and potatoes rotted in the fields, while the people in the cities were cold and hungry in the years of depression; that goods were frequently hauled more cheaply by wagon than by rail; that while rates were reduced somewhat now and then, it was done by reducing wages; that the pay of the men was cut while the salaries of high-priced officials were increased, and so on. This is a striking parallel to conditions in the United States today. Prof. Parsons admits that the commissioners were honest, but they were simply railroad men, running the roads to make money for the treasury. Finally public indignation became intense. The air was full of complaints, and in 1893 the abolition of the commission was made an issue in the campaign, and the people, by an overwhelming majority, elected representatives pledged to put the roads under direct control of the Minister of Railways and the Parliament, and to bring the railroads within speaking distance of the people. The result of this change is that the roads are no longer run primarily for profit, but for service; and the men are treated with the consideration due to partners in the business. It is announced that the definite policy of the Government shall be that all profits above the 3% needed for interest on the railway debt shall be returned to the people in lower rates and better accommodations. This is in striking contrast to the facts brought out in the letter of Engineer William D. Marks to Hon. Wharton Barker, recently printed as a public document at the instance of Senator Tillman of South Carolina, in which it is shown that the people of the United States are today paying interest on a fictitious railway capitalization of something like $7,000,000,000.