KAITANGATA RAELWAT CHARGES.

MEETING AT KAITANGATA.'

[by telegraph.] (fkom our own eefobter.).

:..,.: ... < _ | ~,( ,Kaitangata, April 17th. i .A meeting, to consider tHe proposed increase of charge for goods, &c., on the Kaitarigata Railway Line was held to-night. There Were about 100 persons present, arid Mr Hislop was ;voted to the chair.'; The following resolutions; proposed by Mr Stoddart,, secbnded. by. Mr Mosley, were carried unanimously':—lst; " Thatin the opinion of this meeting it is not conducive,- to ; the interests of "the settlers'that the branch lines of the railway communicating with the-main, line should be held by private Companies. 2nd, That'the Government (where there is a prospect of their paying) should take them into their own hands, ; when they could be more economically worked, and the country would be better benefited. 3ad, Thai; the Kaitangata line, communicating with- an im portant arid extensive agricultural district, producing yearly a large and increasing quantity of grain, should, for the purpose,of giving increased facilities to the settlers, be in the hands of the Government .4th, That as long as the lirie is in the;-hands of private parties, the cost of carriage of grain, etc.; must of necessity be out of proportion to the charges^ on the main lines, thus placing the settlers here at a great disadvantage. sth, That as large and valuable coal deposits are known to exist all over the district, there is, no inducement to work them so long as the only line of communication" is in the hands of a rival coal company. Whereas, this line, with a large grain traffic, and a constantly, increasing coal traffic, reaching last 'winter to 1000 tons per month, cannot fail, in the hands of the Government, to prove other-! wise, than highly payable, thus enabling the scale' of charges to be assimilated to those of the laain lines. 6th, That a Committee be appointed to communicate with' the parties.with a view to pointing out and explaining the advantages to De derived- through the above resolutions, and that the.Committee be instructed to obtain statistics and prepare a memorial to the Government praying them to take the earliest opportunity of giving effect to the views of the meeting." .■. .■. • . .--• ■ ,- '■

"Mr-Henry Clark (Tokomairiro) said that the resolutions weie very good as far as they went, but at the same time the meeting should bear in mind that it was not at all likely that the Government would agree to take the line over. He saw that a deputation bad waited upon Mr Reid to get the Government to get a line extended. Mr Reid then said that the borrowing powers of the Government had been -already expended, and.,that the works that were now, undertaken would require all their money, and that they would be unable to borrow any nadre for some years to come. -He was afraid that the same reason for not" taking over this line: would be given, and thought that another resolution should be proposed, asking the Governent to supervise the rates of charges made on private lines. The resblution was very stringent ; indeed, it was. supposed.- by the Pro-

vincial Government when they sanctioned the making of this line, that the general public would have as much convenience afforded them by it as if it had been made by the Government. He believed if they could not,abolish the exorbitant charges, by-and-bye the Government might take over the line. It would be well to pass some resolution in the direction he had spoken of. ' : Mr Mosley moved — "That the Committee receive instructions to take the necessary steps to cause the Government to put in force the Ordinance of 1875, in order that equitable rates should be charged for carriage .of goods on private branch lines cf railway." ; Carried.

The Committee cons'sts of Messrs Mosley, Smith, Stoddart, Smail, J.Macfarlane, Hislop, Shore, Darling, and MitchelL .-:'. .-:':•'• '■ A letter was read by Mr Stoddart'from Mr A. J. Sn?.yth, in which it was stated that the Directors of the Company bad determined.;to make in future the charge for grain only Is 4d more than.the present charge to Stirling. A. vote of thanks to the Chairman, and to Mr H. Clark for attending and bringing forward the Ordinance of 1875, brought the meet-: ing to a close. :