RAILWAY STEAMSHIP.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17410, 24 May 1928, Page 2

RAILWAY STEAMSHIP.

IS COMPETITION UNFAIR? i PROTEST AGAINST RATE-CUTTING. AUCKLAND, Thursday. A further statement regarding special rates for the carriage of goods charged by the Railway Department when in competition with water transport was made yesterday by Mr Chas. Rhodes, chairman of directors of the Northern Steamship Co., Ltd. Mr E. Casey, divisional superintendent of railways, in a reply to Mr Rhodes’ previous statement, had contended the Railway Department did not carry goods at rates below cost, and there was, consequently, no burden on the taxpayers as the result of the Department’s operations. “If that is the truth,” asks Mr Rhodes, “why is Morrinsville penalised by having to pay 70s Id Class A a ton for 103 miles if 35s a ton Lo To Aroha, 115 miles, is an economical rate? And why do folks at Morrinsville rail their stuff from Auckland to Te Aroha and reconsign it back to Morrinsville to save freight if the Department could economically haul the freight to Morrinsville at the Te Aroha rate? And, if 255, which is the rate charged to Thames, 148 miles, is a payable rate, why charge even 35s to Te Aroha, 115 miles, and. worse still, 70s Id to Morrinsville, 103 miles? Fertiliser Freights. “Also, if the fertiliser freight rate is a payable one, why was it necessary for the Government in its Estimates for 1926 and 1927 to make provision for votes of £40,000 to be paid to the Railway Department in consideration of losses on manure freights? Again, if 10s lid a ton to Tauranga from Westfield is a payable rate, why does the Department charge 69s for a ton of general cargo from Auckland ? The Northern Company has no objection whatever to competition, but tariff cutting at obviously unpayable rates is an injury, not only to the company hut to taxpayers, who must bear the loss. A serious risk is also run by these settlers in places not served by railways, whose means of transport is jeopardised if ordinary coastal steamers are forced out of the trade. “The discerning public will be quick to judge from the facts quoted whether Mr Casey can really justify his statement that none of the railway rates is below the economic level. Railway usijrs in inland towns will also specially feel the injustice of being forced not only to pay more freight than seaports, but part of the competitive loss caused to injure the Northern Company while benefiting those already well served by steamer transport.”