RAILWAY TARIFF.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1928, Page 6

RAILWAY TARIFF.

The reply of the Minister of Railways (lit. Hon. J. G. Coates) to the Farmers’ Union in regard to railway tariffs is not wholly convincing. The union had drawn attention to the fact that by a discrimination in railway chaiges on locally produced goods, as compared with those imported, New Zealand manufactures were receiving a higher measure of protection than that afforded bv the Customs tariff. Whatever may be individual views in regard to the wisdom of affording protection to Dominion industries by means of Customs duties, it is at least the fact that the duties can only be collected as the result of legislative action. In other words, protection through the Customs is a policy to which a majority of the representatives of the people have agreed after open discussion in Parliament. Protection by means of a railway tariff is an administrative act which is in no way subject to the wishes of Parliament, nor reviewed by that body. It has been stated with much frequency that those in control of the State railways in New Zealand are to be guided by commercial principles only, and for this reason a heavy annual subsidy is demanded for the upkeep and services on certain branch lines. If such are the guiding principles then it would seem no part of the business of the railways to give support to local industries by a difference in rates. In his reply to the Farmers’ Union, Mr. Coates did not attempt to deal with this phase of the matter. He contented himself with pointing out the difficulty of framing a railway tariff that would please all classes, and the difficulty, for an outsider, in understanding the intricacies of railway finance. He pointed out that to reduce freights on imported goods to the charge made upon local products would cost the railways £70,000 per annum, while to increase the tariff on New Zealand goods would have a disturbing effect upon local industries. There is not much comfort in this statement for the primary producer upon whom in the long run the cost of all protection, whether direct or indirect, must fall. At the same time direct protection by Customs duties has at least the merit of being openly discussed in Parliament, and for this reason is preferable to indirect methods which may be altered at any time by the action of the Railway Board of Management.