SELL THE RAILWAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 74, 28 March 1888, Page 2

SELL THE RAILWAYS.

{To the Editor.) 1 SiR,-In the morning paper we M» toH , desponding peqple only advocate tW» eale of our railways. This is but a loose .**" sertion to be taken for what it is wortji. However, the railways were to make ian« valuable, and the fortunate possessor ncn. This top was an assertion, and a f»l se country land is now of no value jit *U, a n** the unfortunate owner bankrupt. Ask wr Firth and the thousands besides who have spent fortunes in farming, whether they have been made rich by farming. •*»«? farmers' produce may rot on tne. land where raised ; it will not pay transit by rail to market. The sale of our i railways will pay half our debt, then with not half our present taxation we may nope to recover. But you will cay the company who becomes the purchaser will buy to make them pay, and make those whoqpe them pay also. That is not likely, lge company will know better. It will be their interest to encourage settlements by ta r e and moderate charges to carry farm produce at what the farmer can afford to pay. Economy, intelligence, experience, wtn a thorough practical knowledge are the lines upon which they will be wprked. From th«s most minufee corporate body all the way up to the General Government, is one series of blunder and plpnder, and if we expect different in railway management we will be mucli disappointed. The unvarnished, truth is we are incapable of governing ourselves. Mob government, qr governmept by the mob, has proved a lamentable failure. Thirteen million pounds our railways have cost the colony. What has become of the balance of the forty millionsof borrowed money ? Asto the way in which the railway hss up to the present been worked, * general manager wag appointed, then, after his mismanagement ior a number of years, he is'sent to Europe to learn Ins busineiie, but before his return commissioners are appointed, who are as little versed in raihvay management as he was when appointed, But then, an English expert will be employed to teach them. What the duty of these ignorant commissioners is to be would be bard to cay, Qr what they are capable of doing—they will be mere nonentities in the hands of the expert. But whilst all this bungling and plundering in being carried on, the settlers are being rack-rented with property tax and driven out of the country to support all this, co our last state will be worse than the first. The sale of these railways is tfre pne remaining hope for the ealvatjon of the colony. None with capital will come hare, If he does come here how is he treated ? If he banks his money he is property-taxed, if he buys land, before he is able to raise one feed for his family he has to pay rates ajid property-tax.—l a.m, etp f , Setti^b.