THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5514, 14 March 1896, Page 5

THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS.

— : — ■» DEPUTATION. The Hon A." J. Cadmac, Minister of Eailways, "with Mr'T. Eonayne, general manager, met a deputation from the Chamber of Commerce at the Railway Offices this morning. The Chamber was represented by Messrs I. Gibbs (President), and 6. G. Stead, W. Chrystall, W. D. Meares, P. Graham and G. Gould. Mr Gibbs said that .the deputation had come on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce to point out a few anomalies in the working of the Railway Department, and ask for some redress. The first question he would bring under the notice of the Minister was the railway cartage contracts. The rates of cartage from the railway were still Is Id, whilst the contract had now been reduced to 9-? d per ton, and the Chamber thought that the public should get the benefit of the reduced contract price. The next matter was the rate between Christchurch and Lyttelton which was now 5s per ton, the distance being only six miles and a, quarter. It was requested that the rates should bo made proportionate to that on the Port Chalmers line. Another matter was the payment for overtime when ships were unloaded in Lyttelton after hours. At present the merchants had to pay all costs of discharging after 5 p.m., and it was thought they should only be asked to pay the difference between the- day and overtime rates. Mr Stead pointed out that previously the department merely put the goods do^n at the Christchurch Station and merchants did their own cartage. Later on, when the railway cartage contract was made; the public were asked only to pay the amount the Government had to pay, but now the Department was making a profit of 2£d out of each 9f d, which was rather too much, and some further concession was asked for. He pointed out that here 7d more was charged, on the six and a quarter miles between Port and Christchurch than was paid on the eight miles ; of Port Chalmers line. It was thought that the rates should be equalised throughout the colony, or some concession made on such a profitable section as the Lyttelton line. He instanced the passenger rates on this line, which compared unfavourably "with those in other places These charges handicapped business men here considerably in the inter-coastal trade. Mr Chrystall also urged that the rate of cartage should be reduced. He pointed out that cartage was charged on aU goods whether delivered in town or whether sent straight on to the country, and never put down at Christchurch at all; whilst a great deal of. the imports were taken away by consignees. He had figures which showed that the profits of the department in this matter amounted to nearly the whole amount paid to .the contractor, and for which he received nothing. He pointed out that merchants here had to pay 5s per ton to bring their goods up to Christchurch, and if they wished to send them away agajn, they had to pay another ss. This made a very great handicap, and almost prevented this city competing in the coastal trade, to which they were entitled to a share. The Hon A. J. Cadman said this was only one of many deputations he was receiving asking for reductions, and they as business men would see that he could not accede to all the requests. With regard to the cartage contract, he thought they had been met fairly in getting a share of the profit. They must understand that the contract was hedged around with conditions which prevented very much profit being made out of it by the department. For instance, the carter did not recognise any weight less than 4cwt however small the package was. He would look thoroughly into the matter and see what could be done. With regard to railway rates, they, as business men, would see that with the water opposition on the Port Chalmers line, they were compelled to lower rates there or let all the traffic go by water, and it was necessary that local circumstances should be taken into consideration, and there must be differential rates throughout the colony. He maintained .that during the past twelve or fifteen months since they had held office, very great reductions had been made in many ways, and it was almost impossible to hold out any hope of reductions in freight on this line. A very large amount of rolling stock had also had to be purchased to cope with the extra traffic. They had also carried a great many more passengers and goods than previously. In the two weeks at Christmas time the railways had carried 30,000 people, at a loss of J83200. The 20 per cent reduction in sheep had caused a quarter million more to be carried by rail, and had resulted in a slight profit. They knew that the railways had to be run on business principles, and if they gave every concession asked for, they would be unable to find the interest on the construction of the railways, and if that were not forthcoming they would be blamed by the very men who were now asking for reductions. Under these circumstances he was afraid he could not hold but any hopes that freights ecrald be lowered at present. . With regard to the overtime at ' Lyttelton he had been waited upon by the workers of Lyttelton and-asked that the handling might be let by contract, and had undertaken to go into the whole matter.. He might point out that he had only had charge of the railways for a very short time, and it was not to be expected that he could make all the reductions asked for in the various places. With regard to the cartage contract he might refer to the fact that since he took office a reduction had been made. Mr Stead would like to say that they did not so much, ask the Minister to reduce the railway revenue as to put them on the same footing as their neighbours. A conversational discussion then took place, after which the deputation withdrew.