THE RAILWAY TARIFF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9102, 10 July 1888, Page 5

THE RAILWAY TARIFF.

CHEAP RATES.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Monday. A good deal has been said about the eccentricities of the railway tariff, and Major Steward the other day put a question to the Minister of Public Works with a view of getting a reduction on the rates for fish and game from station to station. The reply was that a brace of pheasants not weighing more than seven pounds, or a trout from Wakatipu of the same weight, could be carried live hundred miles for a shilling, or a brace of pigeons not exceeding three pounds, the same distance for sixpence. Major Steward told me the public must be in ignorance of such cheap rates, or they would be more largely availed of. lam authoritatively informed that the above rates are the cheapest of any railway in the world. The railway authorities have recently reduced the rates on milk from the dairy factories, so that they put their foot on Mr. Parata's attempt to obtain a further concession. The Minister of Public Works admits that the rates for private railway sidings are too high, and should be reduced. Owners of private sidings on the Waikato and Kaipara lines of railway will thoroughly endorse this sentiment. Mr. Hudson, manager of the Auckland Railway Department, expected to have completed his business here to-day, in order to leave by train to-morrow for Auckland, but he is detained now until Friday next.