The Canterbury Railway Agitation.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 4325, 27 March 1884, Page 2

The Canterbury Railway Agitation.

The solfish agitation of jthft Canterbury members and poople against the revised railway tariff does not find much sympathy in Dunedin. The "Morning Herald," which is ordinarily in moderate opposition to the present Ministry, says :—',' The caso made out by the Canterbury people against the new railway tariff is that it will add a penny a bushel to the cost.qf all grain carried for a distance of 40 miles and upwards. But tho obvious answer to this is that it only goes to bliow that thp concessions previously granted were too liberal, and that they amounted to !> largo subsidy to the farmers and grain - dealers at the expense of the general taxpayers. A reference to. the last railway returns shows how unfavourable are tho conditions on which the traffic has beon carried out during the past ten months, from Ist April, 1883, to 2nd Fobruary, 1884. The total revenue of the Waitaki-Bluff lines for the poriod was £G59,528_, as against £564,717 for the same period of the previous year. On the othor hand the expenditure was £388,530, us against £354,212 for the previous year. Turning to the tariff tables, the reason for this is obvious! A great deal more work has been done for less money. The total increase of tonnage was 126,298 tons, of which 109,972 tons represented grain. The increase in passengers "was 41,423, and the inorease jn lfye sf»ek 141,2821 Had tlje tariffs remained £he sajne, this must have shown a great increase in revenue instead of a reduction. Necessarily, all this additional traffic must have c.pst money, hence the increase of expenditure ; but the reductions mojjg exceed, as we believe, by a good round sum t}(js additional expenditure, and have projjab'ty paused a loss of from £40,000 to £50,000 to"" thp Department. The ono question for the Government to consider, with a falling customs p.eycßHPi ai>d increasing liabilities for interest op loans, 1%, How can this state of things foe ppnfcinued wjthonf: jnypntjpg some new form of taxation ? The principle of Jetting every tub stand op its own bottom is savju}, Mld> in the first instance, those who most use UlO railways n>ughf> jjndOMbfcedly to pay most towards their post." TWbcj figures ought to be convincing enough for anyone, The result of the laßt reduction has been that the railway ha? incurred an increased expenditure of over £30,000 on the Waitaki-Bluff lino in carrying an immensely increased amount of freight and passengers, and has received less revenue than during the previous year. . That there are many extravagancies In the existing tariff, ana that in some classes ofgoodsprofitable trade oould ba created by a lower freight, no one will deny. But the general lesson from the figures given above is plain enough. The only alternative to increased rates is a subsidy from general taxation on the whole oolony to give the farmere of Canterbury cheap freights. And the fourteen Canterbury members, with tho whole power of the grain-growers at their back, will have some trouble in convincing the rest of tho people that it is an excellent thing for them to submit to this burden.