THE RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS CHARGED WITH GROSS ABUSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9238, 28 June 1893, Page 3

THE RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS CHARGED WITH GROSS ABUSES.

TO TUE EDITOR. —The facts given below are of such serious importance Dot only to this district, but to the whole colony, that I do. i ot feel justified in any longer withholding them from the public. In a letter which appeared in your columns of the sth instant I stated that the charge made for carrying each ton of goods on the Auckland section of railway, last year, was 9s Bd, while in Canterbury and Otago it was only 6s 7d. In other words, the Commissioners have imposed a differential rate against Auckland of 3s Id on every ton moved over its lines, no matter what its character or what distance it travels. - Bad as .this is, it does not nearly represent all the injustice done to us. Taking everything into account I have no doubt that we are charged fully, double the rates charged on the Southern line. I have been told that the difference in the average charge per ton is due to the much larger quantity ot low-grade goods carried on the Hurunui-Bluff line. This I know was not the case, seeing that more than half of the goods traffic ot the Auckland section is mineral traffic, the lowest grade of alt. It is 51 per cent. Takicg timber, grain, and minerals as representing low-grade—that is to say, the worst-paying class of traffic, this is how it works out HURONOI-BLUFJ' SECTION. 1892-3—Total tonnage carried ... 1,317,775 Timber 75,536 toni-i Grain 428,074 „ Minerals ... 344,565 „ Total low-grade traffic 848,175 tons, s 64.36 per cent of the whole. Minerals, 344,565 tons,= 26.1 of this whole, AUCKLAND SECTION. 1892-3—Total tonnage carried ... 146,451 Timber ... ... 11,001 tons Grain ... ... 10,356 „ Minerals ... 74,629 „ Total low grade tonnage, 95,986 = 65*54 per cent, of the whole, or I*lß per cent, more than on the Southern line. Mineral tonnage, 629 = 51 per cent, of the whole, as against 26 per cent. in the South. The tariff rate for carrying grain 100 miles is lis 7d. For carrying minerals, the same distance, 7a lid per too, ;

1892-3—Goods ' revenue, Hurunui - Bluff, ]

• £436 162 ' '■» "" ' ' •-'•■ Ditto, Auckland, £70,679. ',''.'!.." | I have no means of ascertaining the average; distance goods travel on the two sections, but there can be no doubt that they travel a much longer distance in the South than they do here, which makes the difference against us very much greater. ;'?, ' If the same rates had been charged in Canterbury and Otago that were charged in Auckland it would last year • have added to the revenue over £200,000. It is quite clear that the Commissioners have given the most monstrously unjust preferential rates to a certain favoured few, and I distinctly charge them with so doing. It is no wonder that the "chief users" of the railways support the present " non-political" system, for under it they have obtained enormous advantages, and they will make a determined fight to retain them. I have no doubt that many of these " chief users" are making many thousands per annum at the public expense. It is evident Auckland men are not among their number. < It must be remembered that the vilo differential rating system is now at full work in New Zealand. I have repeatedly pointed out that under it any district can be ruined, and it is quite clear that either by design or through ignorance the Commissioners <- are fast ruining this province. u This is the price we are paying for allowing our railways to be worked under a secret system by absolutely irresponsible men. I have a very, very poor opinion of the ability of our Railway Commissioners to deal with any large question of public policy, or finance, but after the nearly eleven years of agitation, is not possible to believe that they are ignorant of what has taken place. My own opinion is that it is greatly due to their anxiety to court public favour, and secure the Southern votes, and thus maintain their present appointments with the enormous power and patronage thus conferred upon them. Parliamentary control has no doubt some disadvantages, but under it every district is represented in the control of our railways. Under a Board, no matter how constituted, or of whom composed, this is impossible. We now have a purely Southern Board, and we see what they have done to the North, and we are utterly powerless to help ourselves by any appeal to Parliament. I ought to add that every district in Canterbury and Otago does not share the plunder. There are many districts in those Provinces that are, perhaps, treated worse than" we are, but I have not yet had time to work out the figures. I prepared the above statement to lay before the "National" Association last; Thursday, but the council of that august body, by a scrubby little trick, prevented me being heard. As both they, and the Chamber ot Commerce have pronounced in favour of the present system of secret management and irreponsible control, the public must take this matter in hand, if not only Auckland, but the whole colony is to escape serious disaster. All the figures given above are taken from the Commissioners' own reports. Let me again mention that in addition to the heavy rating against us the Commissioners have taken £40,000 of our railway revenue and have expended it in the South. —I am, etc., Samuel Vaile, Auckland, 26th June, 1893.