RAILWAY CHARGES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6091, 18 August 1881, Page 3

RAILWAY CHARGES.

The following sensible letter on the above subject appears in thu Waiararapa Stan Jard :—

TO TIIE EDITOU,

Sir,—Several letters haVf recently appeared iv your columns on this nulject, and oh-rges of uiistuniiKgeiiK-nt by tho department have been fretly tcadu in Some cl tbem. lam i-uro th? writers would not have m*ide thche rematka had they bien aware of tho facts and und. r stood the question. It is then-fur-.- clear that information is wanted. Aal happ. n to have ibtaiiud a great deal ua a member if the Civil Service Commission, I think I may do somo by a fo.v- remarks on the mure important points. The two lines oi argument used by moot of tho writere are, iiist, that na it rcakes no dillerei.co in the coiit of hauling a truck whether it contains one clas-3 of goods or another, the charge should be uni!'»rm per truck ; *eondly, that local managers should be allowed to fix the tariff iv accordance with lecal conditions, and that the "ridiculous <ystem tf unifurm rates" should be abolished. With regard to the -first of theso argumctits, it certainly does, seem sound onough at first sight, but a moment's rifliction will sbow the impossibility of making our railways pay if such a system were adopted. Take, for Jiustanco, tho caso of a tiuckload each if the following articles from Featherston to Wellington, 50 miles : — Article. Weight. Charge. £ s. d. 3 cords firewood, say 6 tons .. ..£1144 3000fcetsawn timber 5 ~ ~ ..300 20 bales wool 3j ~ .. ~ 4 3 4 Total earnings of three loaded trucks £0 2 8 Or a trifle over £'1 per tiuck.

Now, on th 9 uniform charge per truck theory, it is evident that, in order to earn the |same amount aa at preqent for hauling thesa threo trucks it would be necessary to keep to this charge of L 3 per truck- The obvious result of this would be that the firewood would ba no longer sent at all, and the wool-owner would bo saved so much at tha public expense. The total earnings would thus bo reduced to L(5, as only two trucks would be sent. The fact is that tho fixing of a tariff which will pay is an extremely comploi problem, and it can only be thoroughly well done as the result of experience, The general principle to ba kept in mind is that some article", such as wool, will be sent at any reasonable rate charged, so long ,*s there is no competing road or water carriage. Other articles, ouch r.s wood, coal, _fc:., | will ouly be sent if tho rates are so low as to I eavo a profit, and it is ouly by careful sdjunt'incntof tho tariff to theso considerations that iho total earuiu^a of tho railways can be kept up sufficiently to enable us to carry on the traffic without baying recourse to special taxation to meet deficiencies in working cxpeus.'o and interest, A Cinataut wa'.oli is kept by the department over the eft'scts cf tho tariff, and

•j.'iangei are being mndoan required. Of course thero has not yet been time to remove all anomali".*!, i>.nd particularly those* which arose under Provincial administration, but every <oort is being m.-.de to do so With rc-spoct to tho statements about w.*ggong doing tho work cheaper than tlio railway over short distances, this is always admitted to be the caso by ill authorities, i.nd it wou'd b*s ridiculous |to so alter the ta-iff as to attempt to c mpe'.o, iv evory case, In distance* of kss *.han 10 miles. With regard to th.' sec md . ranch of the subject, viz , the " ftbsurd syotam jf uniform oharges" over the Colony, I can ..uly say that it is often found that what is absurd in theory is best in practice, because of tin** special circumstances of tho case. No doubt tho uniform system ia bad in many respects, but it Is impossible to see how Govern ment railways ould be managed on any'other. If, for instance, Mr Ashcroft; co manages our line as to be üblo to take the timber 'nt 31 per 100 ft lesa tban e,t present, the pom plaints' from nther timber districts would be f'eatful, aa the argument would be thiit thoy wero driven out of the market by uufajr competition from Wairarapa, aud such preitmra would be put on Ministers ths»t either th's must he stopped or r*it:» muat be e.jually reduced oij other liaes, whether they Were made to pay or not, Agii'm, on thu level line from Ojmftru to CuristcLmroh the ucuiil cost of hfiulnge would probably n->t excoed ha,lf tiio rate per laiiocf that ovor the heavy grades trom Gutnaru to Doiisdin. Itis !hardly uaceujary to point out what indignation there would b« ia ths latter place if this fact wero recognised us the basis of rates charged, :he traffic! thus deviated to tbo port of Lyttelton. Thu is nuffi.iieut to show tho impjssibility of a system of local rules on Government Unas. Tho answer may be that tin's proves the Government Bhould not work tl*em. This point, space will not perpit i}ia to touch on any ! further than to say that aEter careful consider ation \ beluvo tho balance of advantages is tv favour of the Government retaining the present control. There are advocates of she medium course of veiti?g it iii a board. Much no dovibt might be gained by this, but tbe people of NuW Zealand would never consent that the powers of siic'u board ahould be iieyond the ultimate control of Parliament. So long as this control exists political prossuro would certainly always be brought to bear if it wiu found that the board, by deviating from tho uniform raios, gave one port, or oue local branch of a large industry, an immenaa advantage ovor othera because, tha particular lines effeckd being level, the aotunl ojat of haulage : was small.

I have written at greater length than I intended ; but tho eubjoct is a large ono to treat ■A Ulan the limits of » letter, and of course I can give only an outline of it. I have, I hope, said enough to make those who think, see how mum is to be said on the otber sido against th» superficial views which have lately been expressed. I am certain it is one of the cases where intimate knowltdge of facts will show that it is easier to criticise than to improve. I write with somo'coniidence on the eul j-ict, in I admit that before I had studied it the'viows which I now combat appeared to me fairly sound. I now see that it was my own ignorance that lead me to this conclusion, J. therefore aak others to study before they condemn. Many com-

plaints of the tariff, &c. in detail, majdi.ubfcle',** be made, aud if (suggestions arc* mide in n fair spiiit, tbe uniform com tosy and cuisidera tion of the department with respect <o these maybe relied upon. I would, howevc*, point out (tat it is hardly fair to any department to make wholesale charge*) of niisiiit.iHgemeut without stii'geßl iog a pnxtieal reractV. The iff ct of doing sti cm only nuk-i the officii^.** disposed to treat popular clam *ur w.th very little respect or attention.—l am, &c. O. I'HStAZYN.

Longwood, August Bth, 188 L.

The Figaro asserts thnt of twenty narrlagen i*i the hiyhir ami middle cW'usin Paric, five are the work of professional mfnimouial p.geut?.

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