Woodville Examiner (PUBLISHED B1-WEEKLY.) TUESDAY, SEPT. 14, 1886.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 283, 14 September 1886, Page 2

Woodville Examiner (PUBLISHED 81-WEEKLY.) TUESDAY, SEPT. 14, 1886.

Thebe are great complaints against the railway system, and under the present management this is likely to be so. Mr Maxwell has proved a failure as a manager. When the Hon. Mr Richardson came into office it Avas thought that he, as a practical man in raihvay matters, Avould make great changes for the better. It Avas universally thought that he Avould, in fact, regenerate the Avholc system. These reforms have not been given effect to, and the cry for reform is uoav greater than ever, and rot acln,G ider. Mr Richardson is blamed in this matter. The fact is overlooked that as a Minister Mr Richardson is almost powerless in the matter. Stronger than he in raihvay matters stands Mr Maxwell. Hedged in by Orders-in-Council Mr Maxwell is the autocrat of the railways. No reform can be carried out while he is there, and his removal must be effected first —reform shall come afterwards. In proof of Mr Muxav ell’s power Ave shall given an incident in support of our statement. Only the other day a number of members of Parliament interested in the timber trade as affecting their constituents waited on the Minister for Public Works, and asked that measurement of timber should be based ®n the Hoppus system, which is the system adopted by the trade. The Minister heard the arguments in favour of me scheme and thought the request a fair one, and promised that ho Avould favourably consider the matter and reply in a feAV days if the deputation would call again. The deputation called again, and the result Avas that a promise Avars given that the suggestion of the deputation should be adopted. It was thought the thing wars settled, but the great Maxwell came upon the scene and upset the little arrangement. The result is that while the Railway Department will give the millers the Hoppus measurement they will still charge under the old system. This is an-j indirect robbery of the millers,

and was demonstrated the other clay i:i Wanganui when a log cut by the Sash and Door Factory Company there showed a much less quantity of timber under the lloppus system than was charged for under the Railways Department’s inflexible and absurd system. The result has been that a deputation has waited on the Minister of Lands to point out the matter. The Minister has promised to do what he can, hut not only Messrs Ballanee and Richardson but the whole Government arc powerless against the great J.P.M. who is so hedged round by Orders-in-Council, that he can defy the lot. The man who would move in the House next session the peremptory dismissal of Mr Maxwell and his Orders-in-Coun-cil would be looked on as a saviour of the country. Who will do it 9