The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1890.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 278, 25 November 1890, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1890.

for the cause that laoks assistance, Por the ynong that needs resistance, ii»V r 3for tlLs future to the distance, ,tod Cio good that ye oaa do,

Frequent references have been made in connection with the subject Of railway reform, to the Hungarian zone tariff. A special local interes 1 attaches to the system because it proceeds upon lines very similar t° those advocated by Mr Samuel Vaile j and the results obtained in the year or two during which the zone tariff has been in vogue, are undoubtedly re' markable. The first lucid account of this system we have yet seen is contained in an article in the September number of the " Review of Reviews," which condenses a longer treatise on the subject, published in "Annals of the American Academy " for July. It appears that the Hungarian Government were induced to give the system a trial, owing to the limited use made of the railways by the people, only one railway journey per head of population being made in Hungary as compared with fifteen in England. The marking out of the stages or zones is a little peculiar. Buda-Pesth has been constituted the centre of the whole system. From the authority mentioned we learn that "the first zone is 15 miles .broad, the second and all that follow up to the twelfth are only nine miles broad. The twelfth and thirteenth are 15 miles broad, the fourteenth zone includes all the rest of the country. The fare for travelling across each of these zones or any part of them, although they vary in length, is fixed at one standard rate, namely, iod first-class, 8d second, and 5d third. To ascertain the fare to any place from the capital you multiply these prices by the number of the zone in which your destination lies. If it is in the twelfth zone you pay twelve times the one zone fare. If, however, you travel from one station to the next, a special local fare comes into operation. Passengers from one station to the next ons pay 6d first class, 3d second, and id third. If they get out at the second station they pay 8d first class, 4d second, aiid zd third, At all other stations after the second the zone tariff comes into operation. The express fares are a little higher, being is, iod, and 6d respectively per zone." It will be noted that the fares at nearly all the stages up to the 14th, which begins at the 140 th mile and comprises all the rest of the country, are very much higher than those proI posed by Mr Vaile. For example, Mr Vaile places his first-class fare to Frankton (85 miles) at 2s 6d. Under the Hungarian tariff the fare would be 7s 6d. In addition to that the jtjiingarian tariff imposes n heavy charge for erery description of parcel carried by a passenger. Every package from one to fifty kilogrammes in weight takes gd'to carry the distance of thirty miles/iod from 30 miles to 60, is 8d beyond 60 miles. Above a hundred kilogrammes the fares are is Bd, 3s 4d, arid 6s 8d respectively. When we take into account the fact that the wages of skilled mechanics in Hungary range from 2S 6d to 3s 6dper day,it is apparent that any financial success that may have been attained by the Hungarian zone system, cannot be taken as an i evidence that Mr Vaile's proposals would produce a profitable result. The feature in the Hungarian experience which tells most Jn favour of Mr VaiJe's contention is the enormous increase in passenger traffic which followed a reduction of fares—equivalent to from 40 to 80 per cent. The number of passengers carried rose during the first eight months alter this reduction from 2,890,000 to 7700,000. The receipts increased eighteen j>er cent., while it is claimed that the additional passengers were practically carried free, the expenditure showing no increase

Besides reducing fares a number of measures were adopted to popularise the railways. Tickets are now sold, like postage stamps, at every post'Oflice, hotel, and street corner. Further reductions are made upon season tickets, and for packets of sixty and upwards, and parties of ten agricultural labourers, or thirty workmen of other .kinds, travelling together are conveyed at half Jhe Qidinary fare. The svs-

tern has reduced the number of different tickets required to carry on the work of the railway from 700 to 92. The publication of the results of the past operations of the Hungarian zone system has attracted considerable attention, and railway experts are going from France, Germany, and Belgium to study the working of the system on the spot. Our own Government ought to take immediate steps to obtain full information upon the subject.