"FOR DOMESTIC USE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 236, 6 October 1930, Page 4

"FOR DOMESTIC USE."

SOME RAILWAY ANOMALIES. WHERE THE DEALER SUFFERS. The Government railway tariff is notoriously complex, and some of its anomalies are bewildering to the layman. A striking instance is provided in the rates on fruit and vegetables. If a P«™te ■person wishes to send a case of apples from Auckland to a friend in Marton the railway will convey it to its destination for Bd, provided the consignor can testify that it is New Zealand grown fruit intended for domestic use. If the same case should be sent by an Auckland auctioneer or an orchardist to a shopkeeper in Marton the cost would be 2/5.' In large quantities the rate per case becomes lower for the trader, but unless his Marton customer can take more than six cases in the one consignment, lie still pays a higher rate than the private person whose business is confined to the one case. At Pukekohe some • growers produce large quantities of cabbages, which at this time of year are railed as far away as Napier and New Plymouth, taking in, of course, all intermediate stations. If the grower consigns a sack of cabbages to Napier he or his customer is called upon to pay 2/8 if the customer is a shopkeeper and 1/4 if "certified as for domestic use. The private person can have a couple of sacks delivered for. 2/ railway freight, while the shopkeeper must pay 3/6. There seems little justification for such marked differences. If it pays the railway to handle and carry a single sack of vegetables from Pukekohe to Napier for 1/4 or a single case of apples from Auckland to Marton for Bd, if consigned to private individuals, then the charge made to dealers is definitely exorbitant. Moreover, if there is any differentiation it should be in favour of the growers, merchants and shopkeepers, who are the department s best customers, providing probably ninetenths of its total business. Speaking generally, however, it is preferable to keep the quantity aspect as the only factor in differential assessments. It is not reasonable that the private person requiring a sack of vegetables once a week should be able to cut beneath the whole fabric of commerce, and get the same rate as the shopkeeper, who requires a sack a day for six days in ,the week. The present anomalous system naturally leads to considerable abuse. As far as possible the Railway Department's officers guard against evasion, but it is not practicable for them to follow through the destination of every parcel of goods that passes through the depots. If a sack ot vegetables is consigned' to Mrs. Jones what is to stop her paying the_ freight as a private individual and passing the goods to her husband to sell in his shop. If a couple of cases of apples come to Mrs. Smith at New Plymouth the goods clerk will naturally conclude that his duty is complete when he has given delivery and collected the charges. It will be seen, therefore, that ready opportunities exist for a dishonest trader to obtain an advantage over an honest competitor, and it is well known in the trade that a fair amount of evasion is. actually practised. Certainly a strong inducement is offered by the very substantial preference accorded the private individual as against the trader.