RAILWAY CARRIAGE OF FRUIT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 14, 17 January 1895, Page 4

RAILWAY CARRIAGE OF FRUIT.

It will -be seen by a telegram from Wellington, published 'in this issue, thab the Government) contemplate making a very important concession to small fruitgrowers who use the railway for the conveyance of their produce to town. It haa been understood for some time past that a revision of the railway rates was intended which would considerably diminish the cost of carriage of small parcels of fruit, but it

has not been found possible to make that

reriaion up to the present, and now we are close on the busiest period of the fruit season, when the growers would benefit most

by a reduction in freights. In order thaD the orchardista may nob suffer from the enforced delay in rearranging the tariff, the Government) has decided, in. the meantime, to adopt a uniform charge'for sWall parcels all along the line;

The cost of carrying any case or parcel of frrab weighing 561b or under from any station will be 6d, and for every parcel over 561b and under one cwfc, the charge will be Is, and empties ure to be returned free of cost. The large grower will not be much of a gainer by this new arrangement. As ho usually sends hia fruib in large consignmsnfcs, which are charged under the tonnage table, he can gob hia produce to town ab very reasonable rates. For instance he only pays 10s Id for the carriage of a ton of fruit 25 miles, or about 6d per cwr. Bub to the owner of a small orchard who has only a few cases ready for market aba time, the new tariff will be an enormous boon. At present the lowest cosfi for fcbe conveyance of 561b of fruit from the nearest station to Auckland is lOd. The price for carrying the came parcel from Cambridge, or any station aver tbo 100 miles, is Is 7d. Only consignors .of five hundredweight and over can take advantage of the tonnage rato according fo the existing tariff. Senders of anything up to that amount must pay on a higher ratio. The charge for carrying four hundredweight 115 miles, which is now 5s 4d, will bo 4s in future; and in the smaller quantities the difference will be still more marked, for instead of paying 1p 7d for a 501b parael and 2s 3d for a hundredweight one, the orchardist over & hundred miles from Auckland, will only bo charged 6'd and Is respective^'. When it is boruo iv mind that these rates include delivery within one mile of the Auckland railway station, ib will bo seen that the fruitgrower on tbe railway line is aa well situated as his competitor who has water carriage to town.

As we pointed oufi ifc ia the very small growers who will reap the chief benefit of the reduced tariff. Bub as these constitute a numerous class, the change is an important one. Under the existing scale of charges it did nob pay tho distant grower to send a cage or so of fruit to Auckland when fruit was cheap, and when ifc was bringing a fair price tho co3b of carriage made a big hole ia his profitp. Now, he will be as advantageously placed as the grower fifteen miles from Ajickland who is rojoicing in a very substantial reduction in his freight.