Under him, a series of deficits of over £200,000 was converted temporarily
into a small surplus by 1885–86 (Lee 2009, p. 84). However, the huge losses at
the end of the decade were‘a crucial feature of Victoria’s history’(Serle 1971,
p. 81). In 1892 Speight resigned, largely the result of severe criticism from
David Syme inThe Agenewspaper. According to Butlin (1964, p. 357), this
marked the end of the dominating role played by British experts.
Although Speight presided over extravagant spending on the Newport
workshops, Flinders Street station, and the‘Outer Circle’in Melbourne’s
suburbs,^21 much of the responsibility for thefinancial woes lay with govern-
ments and ministers.^22 The doubling of the mileage of the system in the
decade from 1882 was decided by government, including lines with no chance
of returning revenue greater than cost within decades—there were diminish-
ing returns to railway investment.^23
The reign of Speight was a transitional period. What followed was not only, as
readingWettenhall(1961)couldsuggest,thatthecoloniesandstateslearntfrom
experience about how to create better governance frameworks for railways. In
addition,adeclineinthepay-offfrompatronage, andotherchanges,meantthat
it was an attractive, even winning, political strategy to create a commission with
wide autonomy, but with the minister retainingfinal responsibility for some
areas (but expected to use this power sparingly, on‘important’matters).
An indication that the reforms to the commission system resulted in a
satisfactory compromise is that Harold Clapp, an American, served as Victor-
ian railway commissioner from 1920 to 1939. (His salary was £5,000 (Adam-
Smith 1981), and said to be the highest in the country’s public service.) On the
other hand, in NSW between 1888 and 1932 (when the office of commis-
sioner of transport was established), there were forty-four official inquiries
into aspects of the railways, including thirteen Royal Commissions.^24
9.3 The Reckoning
9.3.1Evaluation
Ideally, we would like to tease out the effects of public ownership and oper-
ation, by contrasting them with private results elsewhere, or through a
(^21) ‘The theory of railway-led suburban growth met its nemesis in the Outer Circle Railway’(Serle
1971, p. 160). 22
Speight made many improvements in the physical system from an engineering point of view:
standardization of some equipment, and improvements in rolling stock and in signalling systems
(which last, unfortunately, did not prevent the fourth in a series of serious accidents). 23
In addition, there was the (often illegal) use of the railways as‘a kind of out-door relief
establishment for those who cannot obtain work elsewhere’(Lee 2009, p. 83, quoting John
Woods, sometime railways minister). 24
South Australia, with its departmental system, had none (Zalums 1975).
Socialism in Six Colonies: The Aftermath