RAILWAY PREFERENTIAL FARES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11348, 17 April 1900, Page 6

RAILWAY PREFERENTIAL FARES.

_ . ;-.- TO THK EDITOR. « Sir,— is tacitly understood by the travelling public, that the further you go the less, in a given proportion, you pay per mile. However, the Kaipara railway fares are an • exception to this law—or, • rather, they art) in tha inverse ratio, because the further one „ v travels the more one pays in proportion per ; mile. The case in question is this: For a ticket between Kaukapakapa and' Mount Eden you pay 7s sd, and from Kaukapakapa to Auckland 8s 3d, making a difference of . lOd, whereas the ordinary charge from Mount Eden to Auckland is 3d. Thus this paternal Government of ours compels the country. . settler to pay lOtl for what, to the suburban' gentleman is 3d. This is preference with a vengeance! This is how they swell the railway returns at tho expense of that easily ' plucked goose,- the country settler. Sir Robert Peel said the science of political! economy lay in plucking the goose without causing it to sqncal. When I remarked to the stationmaster that my remedy would hs to take a ticket to Mount Eden station, and j . there purchaso one to Auckland, he said the Mount Eden master could close the window and not allow such purchases till the train had gone. Would you kindly let the public know in a foot-note if he can lawfully do this" . —I am, etc., John- Gardner Glorit, April 14, 1900. : v •