THE MANAWATU RAILWAY AND THE GOVERNMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3329, 11 January 1898, Page 4

THE MANAWATU RAILWAY AND THE GOVERNMENT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —Mr E. J. Kells forgets that the concessions made to the WellingtonManawatu Bail way Company have been practically taken back by the Government in the shape of heavy taxes. Again, he is wrong in saying the passenger trains shunt at every station. The. passenger (mail) train run by this Company shunts only at, I think, three points during the journey—namely, Johnsonville, Paikakariki (where the engine is changed) and Otaki, and not always at the latter place. The second train, goods and passenger ' mixed, naturally has to shunt wherever , required. When a person writes a letter to a newspaper, he ought to be reasonably sure of his facts. To say the passenger train shunts at every station only shows ’ ignorance. As regards the glut at Cross’ creek, it stands to reason that when thousands of trucks of goods are diverted to the East Coast line there must be considerable delay at the foot of the Rimutaka. Any statement K. J. Kells or anyone else makes can’t alter that fact. Several correspondents have written , in the same, strain as R. J. Kells, but I would point out that, af regards the competition between the two lines, the settlers along the Wellington-Manawatu Railway are not concerned. It is the settlers north of Palmerston and the Wellington merchants in whose hands lies the, power to frustrate the mean and despicable attempt on the part of the Government to crush the Company, and if British fair-play is not dead, they will see to it that qot one pound’s worth of freight is sent viciJ.be East Coast line either way. As to the ’settlers along the Company’s line, they would not have been treated any better if it had been a State railway; indeed, experience shows not so well, as scores of those same settlers know. Of course, the obvious solution of the-whole difficulty i s either for the taxpayers to. take over the private line or lease the Foxton-New Plymouth'section to the Company. J believe the settlers would be far better served by the latter than the former plan.—l am, &0.. Red Flag. TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —Many letters have lately appeared in the columns of papers with a real or supposed grievance against the Manawatu Railway Company, but one that has been brought to my notice over the signature of “A Makerua Settler ’’ has certainly emanated from the pen of ignorance or pure cussedness, the station and siding of Makerua having been put in long after the line was opened, at considerable expense, purely for the accommodation of less than half a dozen settlers. The Company at the time was fully aware the expenditure would give no increase to its takings, as it already* caught all the fares and freight either at Shannon or Tokomaru, and it has and still is stopping from 13 to 17 trains Bach week at considerable loss to itself, for which I think my neighbour should be thankful, instead of joining in the general howl that is going out against the most patriotic Company that this land has-ever seen. I fear many of your correspondents will have more cause to squeal once this line is ruled ,by red tape and politics.

and although most thinkers realise that the local settlers ■will suffer ■when that comes about, every believer in the gospel of “ the greatest good for the greatest number” must admit that this railway should be acquired by the State at puce, and at a fair price. In the infancy of thi* lino the State’s so-called experts reported that it would never earn grease for its axles, but now, under the care of its patriotic fostar-pareut, in spite of the systematic bleeding that has gone on from its birth through the agency of local rates and general taxation, it has become one of the best workers and wage-earners of the colony. Its unnatural parent, the State, is acting the part of a parricide in squandering the taxpayers’ money in an attempt to strangle this child that it should havo nourished from its birth, and this crippling policy was decided upon • after mature deliberation, the whole scheme being concocted more than twelve months ago.—l am, Ac., Another Settler from Makerua.