The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1886.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3583, 25 March 1886, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1886.

We Bhould have stated m our article yesterday on Mr Vaile's scheme for the management of the New Zealand railways, that his pamphlet does take some notice of the objection raised by us. He Bays : — " Many people have objected to my plan on the ground that m their opinion, we have not sufficient population to enable us to carry out such a scheme successfully. This is a natural objection to raise, but it will no more stand looking into than the objection replied to above [that the proposed i reductions are too great.] It is not so i much a question of the number of our population, as it is providing of facilities for shifting the people we may happen to have." Iv a note to the sentences we have quoted, Mr Vaile refers to the following paragraph m Mr Maxwell's report on the scheme : — " Last year tho railways yielded £355,685, after deducting working expenses, which sum was available towards the payment of interest on the loans. This amount was about 33 per cent of the gross revenue. If, then, tho rates and fares were lowered by about 33 per cent all round, we might expect that the revenue would just cover working expenses, and there would be no net proceeds available towards payment of interest, and there would be an additional sum of £355,000 or thereabouts to be raised by taxation." To that Mr Vaile replies that it is almost inconceivable that a man m Mi 1 Maxwell's position could have written it. .We do not understand MiMaxwell to assert generally that the tendency of lowering rates is not to bring increased traffic, though no doubt he does express the opinion that, m the case of the New Zealand Railways, all-round reductions would tell adversely on , the revenue. That is precisely our own opinion, and it is not shaken m the least by the following figures, which Mr Vaile says prove conclusively that the lower the fare, the more often thr population travels -. — "In the Southern States of America, the average fare paid by all travellers is 2.8-i cents per mile, and they shift their population only a very trifle over once per annum. In the Western States the average fare is 2.56 cents per mile, and they shift their population four-and-a-half ft\) times per annum. In the Middle States the average fare is 2.17 cents per mile, and they shift their population ten (10) times per annum. In the New England States the average fare is 2.15 cents per mile, and they shift their population eighteen (IS) times per annum." Assuming his figures to be correct, Mr Vaile claims a great deal too much when he asks us to believe that the fractional difference between those averages accounts for the difference m the nnmber of times the populations of the several groups of states are respectively shifted m the course of a year. There may be, and probably are, other causes of which Mr Vaile takes no account ; and, as we remarked yesterday, there is only a handful of people to be shifted here, whereas m the States there are millions. The conditions are not the same, and the attempt at proof is therefore a complete failure. Of course it is always a question as to how low a tariff may be brought without diminishing the net revenue, but Mr Vaile's contention is that the tariff cannot be brought too low. According to him the invariable result of reduction must be increased net revenue. Such a proposition is manifestly absurd. Anything relating to libraries established for the instruction and amusement of the public is of interest at the present day; and we therefore need not apologise for referring to the case of the Waimate library, which formed the subject of a very acrimonius discussion m the Borough Council of that town on Monday last. Jt seems that under the former management the library got into difficulties, and was transferred by the trustees to the Borough Council, which has since kept it going. Quite recently a newspaper writer so worded a paragraph as to make it appear that the library was the property of the council to do what it pleased with — to close it, m fact, or sell it, without reference to the wishes of the burgesses. One of the former trustees then wrote a letter to the local paper pointing out that the council simply held the property m trust for the townspeople. Such a disposition gave the council all the authority which the circumstances o£ the case required. But the letter had a very unexpected effect on the minds of some of the councillors. At Monday's meeting extraordinarily strong language was made use of, one councillor going so far as to speak of tho transfer as " a diabolical swindle," by which the Council was a sufferer. Another councillor talked of tearing up the deed,

and-'throwing it m the face of the lawyer who prepared it. The legal position of tho Council can, of course, be easily »?:.■•. rtaineel; but we should like to know why that body, or certain of its members, wu-e so anxious that the tenure of the property should be of such a character as to do away with all special responsibility on the part of the Council to the townspeople. We can scarcely suppose that any of the councillors desire to shut up the institution and sell the books. Waimate must have its public library, and, as far as our information goes, the council has no reason to regret the transfer, or purchase, or whatever the arrangement is to be called. The present management has had better luck or better, judgment at its back than its predecessors had. The council is trying to make the library a success, and has already done something towards earning the thanks of the Waimate people. It is no innovation for such a body to undertake library management m New Zealand. The plan has answered admirably elsewhere, and there ought to be no difficulty m securing permanent success m Waimate. But we certainly do nob like a spirit which would prompt its possessors to keep the public at arms' length m matters relating to a public library. There ought to bo no desire on the part of the management to attain a position m which suggestion and jemonstrance may safely be disregarded as attempts at unwarrantable interference. If it was not that some of the Waimate councillors were more or less influenced by such a spirit, we are at a loss to understand why a fuss was made about the exact nature of the council's tenure of the property taken over from the former trustees. Jf the city fathers of Waimate really wish to do good m their vocation, either as librarians or as menders and makers of streets and footpaths, they must be prepared to take the public into their confidence, and they should remember that the voice of the people, if not the voice of a god, is at all events something which m these days cannot be disregarded with impunity. Two telegrams with reference to Mr Bryce's action against Mr Rusden, appear m our columns this morning. One of them announces that the Court has stayed execution pending the result of the application for a new trial, which, however, if granted at all, will be limited to the question as to whether the damages awarded were excessive or not. The ground of the application proves to be what we suggested it was when the news was received, and we see no reason for changing the opinion we further expressed; namely, that the Court would refuse the application for a new trial. The other telegram says that Mr Rusden now offers Mr Bryce £1000 as an indemnity for his trouble, expenses and costs of the action up to date. We do not understand the offer to deal with the main question of the amount of damages to be paid, though possibly the sender of the message intended that to be understood. ! j