THE New Zeland Herald AND DIALY SHOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1884.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6999, 23 April 1884, Page 4

THE New Zeland Herald AND DIALY SHOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1884.

The . communication from ' Mr.;.- S. Vaile, on: the railway tariff, which we"publish to-day, well deserves the attention: of all our business mes, and especially of our members of Assembly. Hitherto we have all been under, the impression that the new tariff established, not exaetly a uniformity of. charges throughout New Zealand,' as Mr., Vaile puts it, but. a kysteni ; ,o£: rates' which, on the average, might be said to be impartial. And in this belief ye have upheld the consistency.of. the Ministry in refusing to suspend the operation thereof at the solicitation ; o£ interested - parties in | Canterbury. But we are free to admit that, . , ■ examining more narrowly into the charges which ander the said tariff have been "made applicable "to the various railway 1 in.es, </hat a great; injustice has been inflicted 'on the' settlers' in the "North Island. With some care we have gone inter Mr:" Vaile's calculations, and find that they are substantially correct, and agree with him in thinking that the new. .tariff,: if not an "atrocious document,".is yet full of " gross absurdities and ' unfairness.". . Few pe.ople. who £aye "read the noisy declamations which have been made ia-'Canterbury....and .O.tagOf ; but. specially in the former place, against the enforcing of the newtariff, and the way in which it was represented as taxing these districts to make up'for the deficit? in income from the/'North' Island railways, would have imagmed. that -the rates were so much higher in- the North Island, com-

pared 'With tlioso m the South, as : Mx. '. Vaile shows — them ■ to he« Yet, jis. x It* may,; perhaps, ..be ; generously inferred that the uiiaccoontable inequality must have; escaped ■ the keen, discernment of Southern politicians, as otherwise , they might have 'been expected 'to' restrain their indigTheir great outcry was, as all are aware, against increase in the rates for the conveyance of grain along the lines, but they appear to be in ignorance of the fact that while in Canterbury "and Otago :this class of goods is charged only ten sbillings and twopence per ton for fifty miles, it is charged twelve shillings and ninepence in Auckland, Wellington,. "Wanganui, Taranaki, and Napier. If they had known this it would, it; is to Be hoped, have made them more moderate in their tone, and induced them to withhold their charges against the "Ministry -of favouring jthe i<orth. -But whether the knowledge of" this fact would or" ■would not;.have had the effect of' causing them to alter their style of speech'and action, the detectionof the advantage the South Island possesses not only in respect of 1 the rates charged-for the carriage of grain, but for other classes of goods as well, ought to arouse the settlers in " the North Island, and lead them imperiously to demand, if not that the charges should be uniform in both Islands, that the people in the South will at least cease to clamour groundlessly about the hardships to -which, they suppose themselves to be.,subjected. - 1 : — It is not merely, however, as between the North and "South'lslands that ,the inequality and. injustice of the rates imposed under the new tariff are to be found, but also as between one district and another in-the North Island itself. •Attention is drawn by Mr. Vaile to the fact. that, while, for carrying a ton' of goods of class D, or general merchandise, "from"Auckland to Rangarin," a distance.of_s6 miles,' a charge..of__2is 2d is made •, the same goods when conveyed to Te Awamutuare charged only 25s per ton, or 2d per - ton less for 100 miles than.for 56. Similar inequalities prevail along the whole Waikato line of such a character as to render it utterly, impossible to know on what principle the 'tariff has been ' constructed. It is easy to understand how the rates should be proportionately'reduced as 'the distance increases'; but when for a greater distance they are' absolutely less than for" a. shorter one, the. whole scheme seems to be the outcome of either unpardonable ignorance or unaccountable caprice. * But,- -this is not all. These inequalities along the same line, though they may seriously affect the revenue, may yet not inflict any material injury;on the district, considered as -a "whole, which, the railway traverses. A very serious however, may' be done when; they (prevail on the railways of one provincial district, as compared with the railways i in another district. And such injustice is being thus inflicted on Auckland at the present time. The charge, for example, on a ton' of • cement • conveyed from "Waitara' to Hawera, a distance of 48 miles, is 28s 6d; while from "Wanganui -to Manutahi, a distance of 43 miles, the charge is only 17s 2d. "'"A similar difference in the charges .for other classes of goods is also to be found prevailing on these two sections of the West Coast line. It will therefore be' apparent to everyone how "this difference operates ,to the prejudice of the Auckland traders, and in favour of i the--traders in Wellington. The-prac-tical effect ■is inevitably -to throw the whole trade of the West Coast district into the hands of the Wellington merchants. There is surely something here demanding the attention of the Auckland merchants, and also, the Chamber of Commerce, which, is supposed to guard the commercial interests' of the city. The whole subject of the tariff, moreover, is manifestly in such a-con-dition as to require the early and" careful study of oUr representatives prior to the meeting of the General Assembly. In the present circumstances of, the country it .is incumbent on them to meet together, and, aided'by to make themselves masters, "of the numerous and : injurious peculiarities which' distinguish the existing railway charges, and so prepare -themselves for demanding duriDg the approaching session the appointment of a wellselected . committee' to investigate : the whole subject of railway management, together with the tariff with a view to placing it on a more satisfactory footing. A painful impression is prevailing throughout the country, that a heavy loss is being daily, entailed on the -revenue by the mismanagement of our railway system, and this loss might easily be turned into a positive profit if, instead of allowing that management to be the subject of experiment by parties devoid of experience, it were placed-in the hands of men who really- know their business. It is quite possible that this feeling may in some respects be needlessly exaggerated, but there is, nevertheless, sufficient reason lying indisputably on the very surface of the matter for its inimediate subjection to a most searching examination.