Cheap Railway Tariff.

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

Cheap Railway Tariff.

■ Editor Witness,— As , one who has not the privilege of seeing any other paper than the Weekly Witness; and a stray copy of the Australasian 'now 'and again, I wish' to make a few remarks in your columns on the matter of cheap railage. While the present railway tariff simply puts an extinguisher on most industries 100 miles from town, it may not be amiss to glance at our Victorian cousins and see whether they are wiser in' tHeir* generation than ourselves. The Australasian of October 30 contains a copy of an" agreement'be#een the Victorian Government and Messrs Chaffy Brothers, of California, which, if carried out to the full, will cost not less than half a million sterling. The scene of the proposed operations is at the junction of the Murray and Darling, upwards of 300 miles from Melbourne as the crow flies, and the capital value of the land, to he operated upon is of that wretched description 'that the late Surveyorgeneral estimated it at 2d per acre ! Theaverage jrental of , the "runs there is l-14th of a penny pcr J acre.j- Tbe.extent of the land to be benefited is 10,000,000 acres, composed of sand hills, salt bush, arid' mallee. ' Knowing something of the country, I cau ; say emphatically that a more unpromising'^ field for outlay of energy and capital would-be hard to find, and the work is of such a character and magnitude that I believe j no other than .those of our own unconquerable race would ever dream of tackliug- it. The' object which" the Government 'have in view is to secure to the colony the agricultural settlement of the lands' hitherto almost valueless, and the practice of . irrigation with the most improved methods and, 'machinery. In a warm country, under a liberal supply of water,- the wilderness soon buds' and blossoms as the rose, literally. The contraotprs are in the course of 20 years to clear. the, land/ provide irrigation works, and establish a settlement of small freeholders in blocks of not .more than 80 acres for fruit farms, and 160 acresfor the growth of other products. Also an n agricultural college • for the purpose of imparting instruction in agricultural chemis,ty," * the best ' modes of applying irri- I gation to farming '• and gardening, and' pre- i serving and drying fruit. - Such is only a brief | outline of the work intended, and my object is I to call attention to the earnest desire of the Victorian Government to encourage industries in the far interior, and the generous facilities it evidently- ineans, to offer in the way of cheap railage for theperishable produce of far outlying settlersi Besides fruits, one of the products will be fish. I have .eaten Murray cod, and can pronounce him to "be a' right royal fish, second tononei .He merit's a good deal of attention, and will certainly gefc;it. . His views, however, of the benefits, of cheap railway are probably rather different jfrom.those of his admirers, as under a sucti X tariff as ours he would be quietly permitted to remain where he is, while the fruits of the, settlers would certainly rot "on the trees. Thelong- string of empty truckß passing and repassing this station daily is, a palpable evidence of the folly 'of the present high' rates of railage all round.-^Y ours, &c,, •' - „,."•'' ' - As Old Vie. ■ Pukerau, Southland, January 4. f