HIGHER RAILWAY CHARGES

Evening Star, Issue 23130, 2 December 1938, Page 15

HIGHER RAILWAY CHARGES

FURTHER LOAD OF COSTS ON FARMERS TRANSPORT A SUBSTANTIAL ITEM [Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, December 1. The increase in railway freights would mean a further increase in the already heavy load of costs the farming industries were being asked to bear, and a further cut in the farmers’ incomes, said Mr A. P. O’Shea. Dominion secretary of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, in an interview this evening. “ It means,” Air O’Shea said. “ that the cost of superphosphate, for instance, will bo increased, as will the cost of other essential materials required by the farmer in his business. It also moans that the extra railage costs will be deducted from the farmer’s returns for his wool, his fat stock, and his other produce. As the increase applies also to road-service freights, it simply means a general all-round, increase in farm costs. “This will not help us to attain the increased production which the Government is asking of all sections of the community,” Mr O’Shea continued, “ and, so far as the sheepfarmer is concerned, the increases come at a very bad time. The Government should be lightening his costs and not increasing them. Transport is a fairly big item, and an important one for farmers, and news of the increases will not make very pleasant reading for them in view of the nrospects of falling prices for their produce.”

TICKETS FOR USE AFTER DECEMBER *ll OLD SCALE APPLIES IF BOUGHT UP TO DECEMBER 10 It was ascertained from tlie Railways Department to-day that the bookings for the Christmas holiday period are exceptionally heavy. At present seven expresses have been scheduled to leave Wellington on Friday, December 23. The accommodation on those trains is already almost fully booked. The new scale of fares will not apnly to tickets bought on or before December 10 even if they are for use subsequent to that date. Purchasers up to December ] 1 will thus be placed in the same position as persons who have alreadv bought tickets for travel subsequent to December 10. An official statement to this effect was made from the Railways Department to-day in response to an inquiry.