Original Correspondence.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 6, 13 August 1874, Page 3

Original Correspondence.

&THE COASTAL SERVICE. (To ths Editor of the Clutha Leader.) Sir, — Your last issue contains an article ■• in which a f cry unfair attfacK is made on Mr..Reid\ owner of the Lady of the Lake, You describe Mr. Reid aif having, hy means of a questionable triek — reducing : the freight from Inch Clutha to Dunedin to 15b;' and after clearing the field, of opposition', raising it immediately to 25s— monopolised the coastal service, to the loss and annoyance ot the settlers. v Now, the freight from Inch Clutha to Dunedin by river 1 and coastal steamer has never for the last ten years been less than 20a per ton, either by Mr. Reid's or any other boats, while the freight from Kaitangata and that part of the island accessible to schooners . and coastal steamers' has seldom been more than 15s, and often as low as 12s 6d. The regular freight, charged last year by the Harbor Co. from Kaitangata was 15$, and not 20s as you represent it, so that Mr. Reid was not the first to' charge that figure. I may here inform you that, so far from being a sort of interloper On the scene, getting possession of the trade by a trick, as your article would lead me to suppose, Mr. Reid aud the "firm to which he belonged have sent steamers and schooners to, the Molyneux for the last twelve years,.

lpng before the Harbor Co. was heard ol on that river. He has sent at least a s -.dozen different steamers and, schooners fa ply regularly in the river during that period, while the opefatiohi 6f the Harbor s Co., which you extol so much, were /confined to one coastal steamer for a year oi two, at* 3 her performances were principally remarkable for the regularity with which she appeared oh the scene every alternate Sunday, and d?.d on that day the work which should have remained for Monday. You do not seem to be aware of* the fact that the Harbor, Co. had a handsome Government subsidy during the time that they ran a coastal and river steamer, and th-?t the coastal steamer was withdrawn not because Mr. Reid fan then* off the field, but because the Government withdrew the si?.be:dy. The steadier Tutfpefca, abotft the s?ori9 time (then the property of the Harbor Co.), came to grief, and wai abandoned to em lu&arance Company After being raised arid repaired, she lay for ccveral months without a purchaser, and we*: on tbe point of being withdrawn from the Molyneux altogether when, fortunately for the settlers, Mr. Reid stepped in and purchased her. for the river traffic. For th"-, instead of the abuse with which you have treated him, he deserves the thanks of the Clutha community.* The .high fate charged at present by Mr. Reid's steamer Lady of the Like is simply owing to the fact of her having ten times as much work as she can do. The schooners and steamers 1 that used io take cskrb frorfc If atitahgata at 12s 6d and 15s are now either wrecked or more profitably engaged elsewhere. With regard to the loss^and annoyance to settle* s from hefting their grain lying on the river banW, they have .themselves s' iply and solely to blame. This season ■.'•hey have placed more grain on the river bank in one week than the steamer could possibly remove tn six or feight. That they have suffered any loss, however, I very much doubt. I fear, Mr. Editor, your sympathies have been worked upen in this matter, and 1 can fancy some Inch Clutha settler chuckling of er the picture j'ou have drawn of his fancied losses and wrongs. Of all men in the world, I think an Inch Clntha sutler is the last and the least to be pitied.' From what I know of bim, I may say that he can feel his tfay about, and take care of himself as welf as any editor grng. Touching his fosses by gr in On the* river bank; my opinion is that he quietly tots up whether it pays best to raise so much more whe *.t, or build a barn with his money. So long as he sees his way to get 4s per bushel and 80 bushels to the acre he decides that it pays better to grow than build. When hrs grain is threshed, he can save a good deal of money by stacking it at once on the river bank, and as he can count on the purcharsr going halves with bim in the loss by we-.ther and re c, oh t **• whole he feels more comfortable than otherwise. Should it lie there for a week ot two, he has tbe additional satisfacti >. of having a grievance. As soon, however, as it will pay an Inch Clutha settler better to build a barn than grow an extra crop with his money depend upon it, Mr. Editor, he wil fc3 the first to find it out. I men ''on this so that ia future y-ou may feel . easy in your crind on the subject: You* iiave brought another serioug charge agai -st M?. Reid, viz., thf.t he is himself a purchase of produce, and that his own i irchp.£2s are promptly removed, etc. Cuppr ; ng this w^ re true, and seeing that Mr. Reid'a steamers get no Government sa 1 * idy, how would you have him aot ? It seems to me he runs a steamer, as you do a n-w;ppper,for his own profit. Now, Mr. E lito •, when you get hold of a good thing in riaxvs, say a murder or dreadful accident, i do you us;- Uy rush off with it to a rival j editor rand gtoe h"nf the first benefit of it ? I think not. And would you have Mr. Reid i amove the produce belonging to hi 3 i!vpl an J leave his own to rot ? Apparently you world. _ . . In conclusion, I may -state I consider Mr. Reid, and* those connected with him in business have done more to open up the navigation of the Molyneux than all the other company's that have tried it put together ; and Mr. Reid is the only one who has as yet tried it without a Government subsidy. — I am, etc., A. Stewabt. •< * -^