RAILWAY REFORM—THE IMPORTANCE OF CHEAP FARES TO COUNTRY SETTLERS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1807, 5 February 1884, Page 2

RAIL WA Y REFORM— THE IMPORTANCE OF CHEAP FARES TO COUNTRY SETTLERS.

io THE EDIIOU. Sih,— lt is often a matter of the greatest surpiixo to mo to note the apparent indiffeience with which country settlers tieat the important subject of cheap faies and freights. This, I think, arises partly fioin a want of a just appieciation of thegre.it interests involved, and nioie from a con- \ iction that it is useless to contend v ith the Railway ] )epartment. People of all classe-> ate apt to be put off -with the Government assutance that the railways cmnot be made to pay, and that no 1 eductions cm be made. Itibhaidly too much to nay that to the Waikato fatmeis, cheap fates and heights mean just the diffeience between piospeuty and poverty. For it miibt be borne in mind that it means much more than getting their produce to Auckland : It means getting it there at sue!) a puce as, would pay to send it to Australia, to the Island'!, &c. In Auckland nearly every kind of agiicultural and garden produce is sold at exorbitant prices. Cat lots and tin nips aie almost as dear as apples ; onions aie fiequently inoic than double the puce of apples ; gooseberries aie never to be had under, Bd per quart ; curt ants are not obtainable, and a decent cabbage costs from 2d to 4d, and this, while all these things aie lotting in quantities in your district, and within fioin GO to 100 miles of Auckland. If a Waikato farmer had 100 tons of hay, could he sell it in Auckland at a profit ? Had he not better bum it where it stands than try the experiment ? It appears to me that, with pioper railway management, the Waikato ought to be able to supply Sydney with ptopared hay, canots, tut nips, &c. Cheap fares and freights not only means getting produce to market, but it also means ptocuting laboiu for the farmer, at the times when lie most requires it, and at a reasonable price. If a labouring man could go to Hamilton for Is Sd instead of 10s Od how many would visit tho district in seal eh of work for on? that \i^its it now? What an influence facilities for the distribution of labour would have on the cost of ptoduotion. Then again, if oheap favos and heights ruled, a large number of manufacturing industiies would be earned on in the countty districts to much greater advantage to everybody than they could be in the larger towns. Ought not the Fibre Co.'s works to have been located somewhere close to the flax supply in the Waikato, rather than in Mechanics Bay, Auckland ? Why should not our tanneries all be carried on in country towns instead of the outskirts of Auckland ? And why should our railway woik&hops be occupying choice vilLi sites, when they would be far better located 50 to 100 miles in the country. All this would mean distribution of labour and population, with the hnmer}se accompanying commercial and spcial advantages. — I am, &c, Samuel Vaile. Auckland, 2nd February, 1884.

MrJ S. Huokland will hold Ills next sale at the Waitoa Yards on the 14th inst. In our advertising columns will be found an important notice of Mr \V. K. Carter's, announcing' his time-table tor trips to the Hot Lakes, Ohinemutu. Village Preacher : " Hain't I clone gone tole yo', Eph, dat it's wicked to cotch fiss on de Lod's day ? " Ephraim (who hasn't had a bite all day) : " Who's cotchingfiss? Yo' cawn't 'ouse me." — Wfe.