No review of railway discount

Press, 7 September 1982, Page 7

No review of railway discount

Parliamentary reporter The Government will not review the Railways Corporation policy of giving a discount to live stock travelling to the North Island on the Cook Strait ferries, the Minister of Railways, Mr Gair, has told Parliament. Answering a series of questions from Mr M. K. Moore (Lab., Papanui), Mr Gair said only the corporation had power to fix special rates and the Government did not propose to review that power. The railways discount only applies to live stock shipped north on the ferries and not

to dead meat. Mr Moore had claimed that South Island freezing works were losing business because of the discount. Mr Gair said that a special rate for some live stock was struck by the Railways Corporation to attract more profitable inter-island business. He could not say how many live sheep, cattle, and pigs had been shipped north since 1976. The stock was consigned in truck loads, and no detailed record was kept of the nurnbers of stock, nor of their origin and destination.