RAILWAY RATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1834, 14 January 1887, Page 13

RAILWAY RATES.

ii The following correspondence has been hwded to us for publication : — . -; w „, * } i«. J. ' -. .; > Puncdin.September 21; 1886., The General Manager N.Z. Hallways, Wellington, ■■ air;— The railv ay charge for conveying sheep from Fail-lie creik to fieEzlng.works.Tiaiaru^isat present a Iftfc c over 6d a head, allowing stf crossbred eueep to the truck.' Ibis charge is simply protjlbiii«e. and consequently I drive all •my - sheep to Timaru. Within the last few weeks I havr had driven by my own men from FafrHe creek to' Tiraaru 3600 sheep' .(other 1500 to send), ia mobs ofSOOnnd 1000:,»uY!a tonal ciist of exactly 1M per she, p. The Albury line has •dlitHetrafflo on it that twin's do not now rim to and fro every day. How comes it that with' a run of only two and a-balf hours by rai| you cannot compete -"the 'road,' or rather, 'refuse -"to' compete, and (; Jose^ traffic ;,v,your engines • rdnnlng. w.th half loads, only? I am free, to ;Cqrife6B that I would be willing to pay a liitte" more to send theep byrrail.than it takes to drive them, beca.iisa in driving the sheep lose a little in weight j lagainet that, however/ they are' not so liable tube injured; by. bruises! What I. have etate4 ! is 1 only a cample of what la taking place at other poiute. ;And yet' we .wonder why "our railways don't pay !— l have, Ac. ' r , (Signed) T. T. Hiichie.' „ Bailway Department, Head Office, Wellington/ ■ •: '>■:> • - '."' ' ' •" n - Octobers 1880. i •Sir.— l^bave the honour to.reply to your letter of the 21st ult. Under the existiha; sheep rates, more than -800,000 . animals were 'carried last year, the traffic having doubled in four years. This year, it is expected to reach 1,000,000 head. ,'You will readily understand, therefore^' that any lowering of rates ie a subject which must receive very careful consideration. . ' . , Information has been from time to' time obtained from every part of New Zealaud from persons of experience in the sheep trade, and, it is tound that there are' many cases where the railways ctunofc carry co cheap y aa sheep can be driven, without involving considerable loss of revenue. Inquiries show that, whtle a very large reduction in rates might secure additional traffic in certain localities, the reductions requ red would be so large as to give a greatly reduced revenue, for the largor truffle on the whole. ' Any applications for reduced rates have to be considered iv view of the very large existing traffic and revenue. Some inquiries have bean instituted regarding the Albury branch traffic, but they have not so far resulted in our obtaining sufficient evidence to justify any large reduction. I should esteem it a favour if you would inform me what is the reduced rats which you would be williug to pay from Fairlio c eek to tfimaru, and what is tho oumber of sheep you would be likely to send per year with such a rat© — I have, &c , J. P. Maxwell General Manager. T. T. Eituhie, Esq., Water street. Dunedin.

Dunedin, 38th October 1886. The General Manager Hallway department, Wellington, BE SHEEP HATES.

Sir, — Absence from town lias prevented ray sooner replying to your favour of the 6th in»t. I perfectly recognise the fact that there cau be no general lowering of rates to any e<tent without resulting in loss .of revenue, and that in certain cases it is impossible for the railway to compete with the road. 1 do not suggest a general reduction on the Albury line for all stock ; aIH contend for is that on this line(esp' dally, seeing ib is noi burdened with too much traffiu) such h charge should be made for the carriage of fat sheep toTimaru Freezing Works as would6hnt'up the traffid by road. I send fat sheop to Christchurch and Ounedin, but I do not suggest any special rates to these places, be ause fat sheep must go there by rail. The reduction in rate suggested should only apply to not less than four truck loads sent at one time, as it won t pay to drive small lots. I have already informed you that my experience is that sheep can be driven from Fafrlie creek to Timaru *in mobs of 500 at a total coßt of l^d-per head; if tho charge by rail did aot exceed Hdjpr head, I would prefer to send them by rail. The number of fat sheep that I will eend down during the months of August, 1 September, and October in each year will be upwanis of 5000. There are several landowners in the district who at present drive their fat sheep, but would send by rail if charge, reduced to 3d. The I am >unt of revenue lost to the department in my case Is certainly small — on 10 000 sheep It would only J bofil2s per, annum ; but i.here are I know many others in various parts of the colony in tho same position as myself, and the aggregate 'revenue from the conveyance of fat sheep tor certain distances if a reduced charge were arranged would probably be considerable, and it seems to me would be found money to the department. The department recognises already in sevenl Instances the necessity for special rates to secure traffic, and I also know how a section of the public look at such and want to know the reason why and refuse to see the necessity for such . because they do not directly benefit therefrom," If the principle of differential rates cannot be extended,' the railways will never be the success they ought to be, and one result sooner or later must "be their management by a board unfettered by political influence and consideration.— l have, &c., (Signed) • T. T. Eitchik.

Railway Department, Head Office, Wellington, December 15. 1886. Sir,— l have the honour to Inform yoW that 1 have lad your letter before the Minister for Public Works, who regrets that he does not<see his way .to reduce the rates for sheep ftom the *lbury branch. There are many cases in the colony where sheep can be driven at much Igsb price than they can be carried by rail profitably to tt»e Railway department. In your case you state that you can drwe them for I^d a head, and you add that if the ehirge did not exceed 3d per head by rail you would prefer to scad them in that, way. , , You are iii error' in supposing that the railways lose revenue by declining to., cany sheep as >ou sug-gest-^at 3d a head. You overlook the eo3t of pertorming the service. With the current price of labour .in the colony, losu would occur to the department if it earned at the rate you propose. As, therefore,' you can already jjet your stock to their destination at a cost of l£d per head, you will no doubt agree thafc it would he .undesirable for the Government to undertake to carry them at a loss at 3d a head.;

in would of course be undesirable to extend special rateß unless some material advantage is to be gained thereby.— l have. &0., J. P. Maxwell, General Manager* T. T. Eitchle, Esq., Water street, Dunedin.

Dunedin, January 6, 1887. . The General Manager, Kailway department, Wellington. * . . Dear Sir, — I have to fchiiuJi you for your communication of loth u.fc. The result is just as I anticipated from the first. Your statement that it would be a loses to the department to convey fat sheep from Fairlie' creek toTimarufor 3d per head' is an assertion which— excuse me for being plain— you will get no oue outside the department to believe, and pro-, bablv few inside of it either. You have always a largo number of trucks afc Timaru, .the locomotive is running daily, your Afficlals have nothing to do with either loading or discharging the trucks, and the grade to Timaru is such that loaded trucks will almost run down of themselves ; and yet itdon'fc pay to carry sheep. 250 afc a time, at 3d per head! 'I gather from your reference to my offer to pay' 3d per head that you doubt the truth' of my statement that sheep can be driven at a cost of !§d. I may explain, although you. are doubtless quite well aware of the fact, that in driving fat sheep 30 milt 6 there is a loss , of> weight when animals killed which is eQual to a little over Id per head, and besides there is a danger of the quality of' the mutton b'ding slightly deteriorated. ' So you see although it cost Isa actual outlay for driving, it would bo no loss to pay the department 3d per head. . ; , Instead *of ■ entering on a correspondence and trying to Justify absurd rates, it seems to me it would b9 preferable to plainly, state, what I am convinced is'the^case, that-so long as the-department'subjeet to political influence tbe railways cannot be man-, aged on ordinary, business and commercial principles.—Yours,'faithful.y, , ,-•'." , T. T. Eitchie.

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The Wakatipa Scandinavian Settlers. .Editor^WiTNEss.-eln common, with many other settlers, Lwa6; highly amused on reading an article, in your 'issue, of., the ldth ult. entitled " Small Farming v. Large Estates.' 1 The writer has either been very .egregidusly misled by .his Scandinavian friendsVor he has, after interview' ing these very small farmers,' filled in the details according to, his .notions, of how farming should be carried, on toTbe_ remunerative. .Now let it be understood that your informant's statements are as full of mistakes as they can well be.. For instance, t he -says*" hi' speaking j of a market for their,- prod uce« they lijtre at;sonie . distance from the centres of population, and are thus debarred from eirningmpuey trom this source. \ the di£ taucefrohV'tue' adjacent townsHip is 'four' miles," .and all that they have hitherto produced has always been sold, 'and they have 'in 'this respect an.equal (Chance with, their "more, opulent neighbours?' .Their wives, also, do not manage all thY harvest work whilst their goqdmah is away,' for that gentleman invariably leaves his employer for the n'bnce to. do his own- work. The Scandinavian' gentlemen that "your own" has so kindlyjin^roduced.to, the public through the memum of your.yaluable paper comprise the whole colony of Danes aud more than the whole, as one (ljaß( ljaB leftHhe flat, bf the other three, one does not farm at all, and of the two that are left' *as | „ farmers from Denmark; one' only grows, four acres of wheat ;for the first tjme,'.s6" your reporter [ was quite right inßJiyiog that there was no waste of straw, 1 for the simple reason that they never .grew any to«wa»te.r However, apart from aU this, as a^ Britisher I object strongly to these men being held up as pattern settlers whilst close alongside of them are English and Irish owners of small holdings, and'alT'that "yotu* own" has said about* these men w'buld equally apply to them also, as they are in every way as industrious^ thrifty, and neat, and, moreover, they are not a whit behind them— if such a thing could be—in their abhorrence (save ,the mark !) of debt. ' Now, sir, don't yoii think' that it is going a little too far- to advise' foreign settlement when it is a world-wide fact that Britishers are known to be the best colonists that the world has ever produced {vide Australia, Canada, bur own New Zealand, and a host of other lands that have helped to build up the ■ mother^ country into the mighty empire that she now is, and on whose possessions the sun never jiets) ? There are thousands of our ;own\countrymen eager and willing to occupy the spare lauds of the country; and whys should we look to foreigners to till the soi}— men' who' would never have the same interest in the country as we have ? They are no doubt industrious and sober, and are., not there thousands of our own countrymen the same, but who in, case of need .could be depended upon , to figh't-'for 1 ' amor 2>atri<B? 'As 'to' the 50-acre system bringing an independence, that remains to, be. proved. It has not done so in times' past, and it is more than questionable if it can do so now, when things are at so low an eb and when'we have an enormous' competition as regards'the 'grain grown in foreign countries. I feel that I have trespassed somewhat too much' on your space, and must apologise for so doing, but really even poor Hodge will turn when you tread on his toes^— Yours truly, Arrow Junotiou, December 29. [You should only write on one side of the paper.— ilb.l

Aqbioola.