THE RAILWAY CUT.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 192, 14 August 1919, Page 7

THE RAILWAY CUT.

WASTED FREIGHT SPACE. A CO-OPERATION SCHEME. To find a means of assisting the Railway Department in order to reduce as much as possible the present freight difficulty was the object of a meeting of representative commercial men at the Chamber of Commerce this morning. The meeting was the result of a letter to the Chamber from the Auckland Commercial Travellers' and Warehousemen's Association, suggesting the advisableness of appointing a citizens' committee to co-operate with the Railway Department, similar to what had already been done with excellent results at Wellington and Christchurch. Mr. T. Macky, vicepresident, occupied the chair in the absence of the president, Mr. McCallum, who was unable to attend owing to sickness.

The chairman stated that he had been told that owing largely to lack of cooperation not only were trains going away with only half their freight space filled, but that in some cases trains were knocked off altogether notwithstanding ! that goods were awaiting carriage. j NEED OF A HELPING HAND. Mr. YV. Garrett gave the meeting the j benefit of the observations of some mem- i •bers of the Commercial Travellers' Association. Tho general opinion among I them was that the coal shortage was I very real, and that the railway officials | were working under great difficulties, i At the same time they could see that, the best use was not being made of the i freight space available, as trains were leaving and arriving at Auckland not carrying as much as the engines could draw. They felt, therefore, that it was time for some form of co-operation between the consignors of goods and the Railway Department. There were, for instance, quite a number of things that should be known. Recently the Mayor of Dargaville, in answer to urgent inquiries, was advised to inform the merchants of his town that a full train of goods was ibeing run to Helcnsville every Tuesday morning. That was not generally known. He went on to say that it had been noticed that in the past fortnight several trains had run partly empty, while in one instance an early morning train frcm Auckland was cancelled. The Association at the same time recognised that the Department was doing its utmost to render the position as easy as possible. As to the passenger side of the question. members lof the Association were having no difli- | culty, and were always given permits jto travel on production oi the Association's certificate.

Speaking of what had been done in Wellington, Mr. Garrett said he understood that a representative committee of 2S members was formed, and in turn divided into sections of 4, one of these sections meeting every morning to be consulted by people wishing to get goods away by rail. Then 'the sub-committee met the railway officials and arranged for the disposal of the freight space available. If there were more goods than could be carried the less essential part was held over. He believed the scheme was working very successfully. DIFFICULTIES AND SUGGESTIONS. The chairman remarked that they wished to make it clear they were not trying to pick holes in the management of the railways, but were endeavouring to organise any assistance possible to make the best of a bad job. Any service which would facilitate the carrying of goods at the present time would be valuable service to the community. In answer to questions the chairman said that a meeting was called in Christchurch, and as a result of a deputation to the head of 'the Department in Wellington he believed groups were formed as in the capital, and they took it in turn to assist the railway officials in getting the goods away. The great thing was for the commercial community to join hands with the Railway Department in trying to regulate the traffic.

Mr. J. Alluni expressed the opinion that the position was now so greatly improved that action was hardly necessary. Five or six weeks ago it was different. He believed one of the great difficulties being at present experienced by the Department was the duplicating and triplicating of applications respecting the carriage of the same goods. Another trouble was the fact that the Department would not take less than a truck load of goods to any outside station. He believed, however, that the railway officials in Auckland were trying jto meet the consignors of goods in every way possible under the restrictions.

A REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE. A number of anomalies in the present goods restrictions were pointed out by Mr. 11. Wiles, who explained that while manufactured products were in many cases on the preferential list, the rawmaterials from which the goods were made were shut out.

The meeting, after further discussing the situation, decided, on the motion of Mr. J. Thompson, to set u<p a representative citizens' committee to wait upon the Auckland traffic manager and ascertain the Department's attitude 'to the formation of a commercial committee to co-operate with the Department. The following committee of nine was selected to meet the district traffic manager to-morrow morning:—Messrs. M. M. McCallnm or T. Macky (Chamber of Commerce), J. W. Hardley (Hardware Association), C. H. Jones (Warehousemen's Association), F. M. Hills (Industrial Association), E. W. Evans (Merchants' Association), A. Thompson (Commercial Travellers' Association). 11. Wiles (Druggists' Association), H. Dearsley (Manufacturers' Association), and a representative of the Sawmillers* Association to be selected by themselves.