RAILAGE OF FODDER.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10780, 31 May 1911, Page 6

RAILAGE OF FODDER.

To the Editor. Sir,—l desire to express the appreciation of country settlers (who are suffering, together with their stock, from the effects of tiie past dry season.) to tile Hon. Geo. Jones for liis several efforts to obtain railage concessions on fodder fur starving stock. It was with mingled feelings of shame, amounting almost to disgust, that, 1 read the Minister's reply to the lion. Geo. Jones, in to-night's Mail. What appalling ignorance, coupled with inhumanity, the Minister, or his chief officers, display respecting the conditions still obtaining in this district, and the practical side of the question from a suffering farmer's point of view. The Minister's generosity may l>e great, but a.> we received no benefit so far no thanks are due.

Mr Millar is usually pretty definite, but the shadowy concessions granted j reai bed till.- very apex of indefiniteness. ■' In their great wisdom at the head office th'jy have decided to withdraw the .concessions never given. This is the last ■■.straw" that clearly proves their complete ignorance of tiie losses sustained and the grave difficulties .still facing tlie district in carrying stock through until the spring. From the Ist June until the middle- of August is just the time imported fodder will he required. Mr Millar is a tower of strength in the Marine and Customs Departments, but when it comes to farming interests we can only bewail our misfortune that lie ha.-, not a wider and more practical virasp of the necessities ol the farming community. Surely Mr Millar cannot have forgotten that our turnip and rape crops were I-, total and absolute failure, neither could he expect an April rain would revivii'v any great portion of our "rass land that was withered and dead, both root and branch, months before the rain came. ■He cannot be aware that on top of this 3D to 40 per cent- of our grass lands have been completely demolished by the \beetle grub. The rain trtilv was a God-send, and the warm, geirial weather succeeding it was mure than acceptable; saving the situation for tho time' being.' But alas, the glorious flush of feed that gladdened the heart' of -man and renewed his hope, is not of the lasting nature'of old grass or a good crop of turnips. Perhaps before the Ist of-June we may experience a not 1 tinusual severe frost that will sweep away in 'cfiie night the growth of the past six weeks, then the pinch of starvation will -begin to stare us iir the face. A few trucks ofi turnips from Southland would- pull many ■.a small struggling farmer through uiltd' nature came to his assistance. '- I do not wish to expatiate on railway management-here, out I fra'in from " saying that it is -' against, the interests of the people"and velopment of the country to consider our railways -as a purely cpmmercial con-, cern. Neither will I touch here on the serious inconvenience, and loss "td conn-j trv settlers of the new traffic regulations. However, the Minister cannot | excuse himself "any longer, in saying' the railways, do not -pay.-- • -He has shown himself that he has earned interest and a surplus, with the revenue still show- | in" a comparative inorease'. ■ It would be far "more.in keeping with.the. creed of a Liberal Government (of which he is a distinguished representative) _u more consideration w«?re given to."the pnxlucers of the Dominion in the hour of calamity than nhthily endeavoring to show a large profit on our railways. Finallv, if concessions could be granted —granted speedily and' cheerfully during past disasters —when the railways were not paying, surely'we have a right to expect flie helping hand when the} We'sincerely thank the'Hons. •Jones and T.'Y. Duncan for their efforts and hope they- may yet succeed,— I am, etc., A MAC pHERSON. C'reag-Dhu,. Bortons, 30th May,. 1911. . V