CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 30 October 1890, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

•• We are not responsible for the statements or opinions of correspondents. TO THE EDITOR OP THE MANAWATU HERALD. Sin,— l notice that candidates for Parliamentary honour?, throughout this colony, are being closely ijuentioned as lo .-heir views respecting local improvements in tlieir electorates, such as Harbours, lla.ilways, Water-works, Drainage, Railway rates, Ac, and I think the Palmerston electors will be very remiss if they do not take time by the forelock and bring their representatives to book at the meetings to ba held shortly at the different centres. It is all very well for candidates to promise great reforms in the Customs tariff, Education, bursting up of large estates, taxing absentees, and changing the incidence of taxation. Promises are like " piecrusts," easily broken, and I venture to predict that all the tall talk we shall hear on these subjects will end in smoke when subjected to the fire of criticism in the House. Be this as it may. We all know that a certain revenue must he raised every year to meet the interest and current expenditure, aud as no one can suggest anj mode of reducing this expenditure in ihe aggregate, would it not be advisable for our representative to let well alone, to leave the shuffling of the cards to posterity, and to apply his mind to the elucidation of those vital questions which really affect the condition of present settlers, and the prosperity of the colony now, and in all time coming. These are— Treatment and sett ement of land ; construction of necessary works; and revision of " Eailway Tariff." These appear to be simple questions, but they have been shunted by nearly all the candidates who have spoken hitherto. Now land has been sold by the Government in various ways, and bought from the natives, and re-sold in some cases by speculators to the highest bidder, and iti value has generally been appraised by tha number of beasts it would carry per acre. The essential element which regulates the value in all other countries seems to have been ignored in this, and that is good roads and railways from it to the seaboard, coupled with low rates of carnage. What is the value of high class land to the settler j if there is no road to it, and the charge i upon the railway more than the profits upon the sale of the produce ? How many would-be settler has refrained from pur. , chasing a promising block when he found i the carriage would swamp his gains. ■ At Home where markets are never more j than 20 miles away, a good rate can be l levied, but in New Zealand no settler can I afford to pay a high rate beyond the first 120 miles. Our representative should study 1 this subject, and lie prepared to suggest a remedy for the burden which bears so heavily upon the outlying settler, and he should not allow the difference in the first cost of the land to militate against a gradual reduction of rate in proportion to the distance. This reduction should be enough to admit of the most remote settler being able to place his produce upon the I market here or at Home with a fair profit. 1 Until this is done the profits of present j settlers must be small, and burst-up estates . will remain untenanted. j Some of the settlers within the electorate are favourably situated so far as roads and Railways are concerned, but those in Manawatu and lower Ilaugitikei have much to complain of. The Wellington and Manawatu railway was originally, intended to pass through, Fox'on, Sanson, and Bulls, but political interest diverted it towards Palmerston, to tlie ruin of Foxton, and the making of Palmerston : but the influence wliich secured the deviation omitted to secure the control of the railway, so the company have the monopoly of the rates and charges, and they are now charging the almost they can, and in many case.i more than the whole profit of the settler. What is the remedy for this state <>f matters '? it is simply the improvement of the port of Foxton. I have examined the entrance to the river and I can confidently asseri that by the judicious expenditure of a few thousands the old entrance could be restored, and with it a good bar. If tiiis were done, then the Palmerston settlers would have two strings to their bow and could dictate terms to the ' Manawatu Railway Company, and if the Sanson Carnarvon Tramway were extended northwards to Greatford and southward to Levin the whole of the settlers of Rangititikoi and Manawatu would be placed in the same fortunate position, viz either to ship nt Foxton or send by rail via Levin to Wellington. Our representative should therefore be pledged to assist in every possible way in or out of the House the construction of a through line from Greatford to Levin and the imprvement of the entrance to the ri»er. These are what may be called necessary works. With regard to the Railway Tariff, it was constructed upon Home lines years ago, and the franier of it forgot that th« market was iv*t at the shipping port here but many thousand miles away. Consequently uniform rates per mile wer« charged irrespective of distance, and concessions made from time to time to secure trafflo have resulted in so confusing and mystifying the charges that no one can understand them, and it is apparent to those conversant with railway management that the old tariff must be set aside, and a new one constructed upon commercial lines. That a diminishing scale of charges must be introduced by which the outlying settler will pay less in proportion to the distance by rail he is from market or shinning port; that this scale must bd applied all over the colony without favor. Our representative should be pledged to join other members in end-avouring to get the Commissioners to revise and alter their obnoxious ta iT to suit the requirements of present and fnturn r-t-nVrs, and this I am satisfied they cun dv without lessening the roc-ip! ;, but ultimately largely augmentim- th-mi. — I am. eVe, •T. '.VniniiT Stkwai-t. P.S.— I mean by outlying settler those more than 25 miles from market or -seaport. Foxton, Oct. 29, 18' M.