RAILWAY FREIGHTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 308, 22 September 1908, Page 7

RAILWAY FREIGHTS.

PRODUCE MERCHANTS' COMPLAIN; ——:— '1 TRIFLINC ERRORS PENALISED. NEW ZEALAND AND IMPORTED PRODUCE. The classification of railway freights over the Government railway lines of New Zealand is summarised in a red-covered volume about half an inch thick, containing a largo amount of detailed information, which would entail months of serious study to digest. It is imperative that this should bo done by the merchant or his servants, as otherwise lie would havo to look up this wonderful encyclopedia -,on freights every time a parcel of goods has .to be forwarded over the railways. Of. course it is necessary to classify goods, and not much exception is taken to the carefullycompiled book, but thcro is a feature in connection with tho administration of one .—those of freight-rating—to which exception is taken. ■ This has reference (1) to tho differential rates charged oil Now Zealand and imported produce, and (2) the penalties imposed on merchants or consignees for trifling clerical errors incurred in the making out of forwarding notes. As a matter of fact, the one .thing bears upon the other, as it has' been explained \to a representative of this paper, that if a. forwarding note in connection with a parcel of New, Zealand produce is sent, and the. junior clerk omits to stato that the produce is locally grown, the railway authorities, by some method not exactly clear, decide that it is not locally grown or made, and rate it as imported. Omissions and their Consequences. What, this means was explained by a local produce merchant yesterday. One of his had dispatched a line of locally-produced pigmeal up tho country, omitting the words or letters that would distinjuish it as such on the, note. . Under ordinary circumstances this stuff would hare, cost-10s. 7d. per ton, but to his surprise the consignee (who was to pay the freight) wrote that ho had beencbarged no less than £2 14s. Gd. per ton—actually £2 4s. more than would havo the case had tho letters "N.Z." been included in tho forwarding note. The matter was referred to the railway authorities, who declined to accept the. explanation or, what is the same thing, declined to make a refund.

• Another instance concerned the forwarding of ten sacks of ryegrass seed from Wellington to the country-over the Government line. . Making sure that no error was made, the seed was consigned "10 sks. N.Z. seed." The cost ordinarily is 15s. lid. per ton, but the merchant discovered to his amazement that' he was being charged at the rate of 455. per ton,, because the words "ryegrass" had been omitted in, between the initials "N.Z." and the word "seed." This was surely a'mistake,! The traffic manager was written to for a rebate, and the following reply, was received:— "Gentlemen, —In reply.to your letter . of the inst. with reference to an application for a rebate on 10 sacks ryegrass' seed, I beg to inform y9U that the seed was charged up as consigned, and I am unable to allow any "rebato. Tho onus of. correctly describing goods on consignment notes rests with' the senders, and if they do not\so-consign goods to obtain, the cheapest rate, the Department oannot be • held - responsible,—Thos. Arthur." . ' y;. • Responsibility. < ■ Mr. Brown,, of Laery and Co., quite saw where the_ responsibility "came inj but when, it'was pointed, out -to the Department and : proof produced in support of the fact that a clerical error had been made it hardly becomes a matter'of ■"responsibility''—it is one of . common commercial justice. "Is every merchant," he said,-"to be penalised for any little error a- junior slerk , may make any day?- It seems to be altogether unreasonable. The Department is not content with alO per cent, -fine for such errors—in the case of the pigmeal the freight charge was five times wnat it should have been, and what I wish particularly to . point out is this difference in the' freight rates (for local and importe'd goods). Imported produce is penalised in the first instance by oversea freight and duty, which should end the matter, but it is furthor weighted when sent over the Government railways, as note the pigmeal ' produced, 10s: 7d.; imported, 545. 7d. It surely'.pays;to' carry theistuff at 10s. 7d; per ton, or why should the Government do it? If it does, freight on imported stuff, is out of . all proportion too heavy Either the one charge is exorbitant or the other is'too little.

■ i■■ "There "was a;case the other day when some peas were sent-over the! line, and were 'charged as imported.; Now, I don't suppose • 1 per cent, of' the'peas consumed in New Zealand are imported, and yet the Department will-take advantago' of an error of omission on the ; forwarding note to - claim an exorbitant rate. - These little mistakes are readily rectified by the' Wellington and Manawatn Company ; why the Government will not do so neither, I nor other • merchants can understand." •