CHEAP TRANSIT AND THE FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2152, 24 April 1886, Page 3

CHEAP TRANSIT AND THE FARMERS.

TO THK EDITOR. Sir,— Mr Samuel VaiJe, when lecturing recently at Cambtidge, gave utterance to a , homo truth, when he said "that it was use- ! , lesa putting a man upon land, when the freight upon his produce, to the nearest market was half the value of the produce itself." It is undoubtedly upon this matter of cheap transit that the question now turns " will farming pay," and I think it will be equally admitted by Waikato settlers, that with the present high rate* of freight and commission, combined with the low produce for all kinds of farm produce, that "farming does not pay." It may and probably does pay the railways, carriers, and commission agents, but the farmers, who are the foundation of it all, and who are the subject of much .Sentimental talk on the part of politicians and philanthropists, simply toil, and in many cases rob their land for the benefit pf others, and this is the main reason why intelligent men with means to work with, will not go upon land, if they can find any other w.iy of living. It is quite useless for Sir G. Grey and other statesmen to advocate the settlement upon land of small farmers, and in the same breath state that "the management of railways, is a mere ' surface question." It is to us a vital question, and Mr Samuel Vaile in his grand efforts to ha\e the railways worked bo that they shall, in short, do the greatest good for the greatest number, has the sincere sympathy and support of every' tiller of tho soil throughout New Zealand, And should his efforts, as we pray they will, be successful in the end, he will have done more towaids the prosperous settlement upon the now waste lands, and idle farms, of thousands of families, than has ever yet beon accomplished by any private individual or any Government. In this matter as> in many others, our local newspaper is entitled to our warm support, for whether it is in advocating the lowering of railway freight, the starting of any new industry, or in urging the farmers to combine together, for their mutual protection. The Waikato Tune* it ever to the fore, and i-s, as it should be, the farmers fiiend. —I am, &c. Whatmvhata Farmer.