THE RAILING OF LIVE STOCK.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 876, 23 July 1910, Page 8

THE RAILING OF LIVE STOCK.

I--'-' -,n- ' j ALLEGED DISGRACEFUL AR- |. . RANGEMENTS. It is a requirement in tho regula...tions of illo Now Zealand Railway Department- that persons desiring to hire f\ ' cattle trucks shall givo notice of their I , wish twenty-four hours prior to tliu i; "time at which they'propose to mo tho j' ; Vehicles. : On Tuesday, Mr. T. W. M'Kenzie, of | :: Masterton, trucked at Masterton for K" .Wellington' twenty-sis purebred Hcrt- ' ford cattle. Speaking to a Dominion [, representative of the way in which .tho I railway ..servants performed the Departi - • jnent's part of the contract to rail the cattle to the city (whence they were |. shipped to Canterbury), Mr. M'Keni zie said'." "I wrote to the station-, i master at Masterton on the 13th (Wodj. nesday), saying that 1 wanted three }'."■ new 'H' type cattle trucks for tho [' morning of the 19th. (the following (■ . Tuesday), to load by tho .first passenger j . ttrain, which leaves Masterton at 7.30 j'-. !a.m. That is.the train generally used j. [for such shipments; for years it has f' ' ibeen the recognised train. "Instead of getting three new 'H.' j . jca'ttle trucks,- I got only one of that -type, and the other accommodation conSsisted of an undivided 'T' truck." '... :An undivided "X" truck is a truck" '"••'of'double length without a half-way . Ipartitiou, so, when the train traverses ,an incline (such as tho Rimutakas) all r ftho weight of a double truck load is .cast .on the cattle at'the lower end, and, consequently there is risk of their . Jieing damaged. Fortunately, in this fcase, tho animals were quiet, and no - ieerious harm was done. "At five o'clock on Monday evening . J(the 12th)," Mr. M'Kenzie continued, '■"I went to the Masterton station anil tasked ,if my trucks would bo there at . !the proper time, and I was told that .■■■'(they would. It was not the station-' [master who told me, but the person . lacting in his absence. On Tuesday, ' morning the station-master was not- on • kthe station, 'so, though-the' arrange-. 1 sments had riot been carried out, I. said mothing about the matter just then. 1A Strango Request. ' - "When the train. arrived at Cross ICreek some railway officers asked me -. if I would allow tho cattle to bo shunted on to a side-lino to wait for a Slater train. 'Ibey said that the engine ■. tarnM not take the load up the range. :• !l refused. I had space booked on the rstoamer, and I would havo missed the . jvessel by coming on by a later, train. ;>lt: would- have meant taking the cattle 'iback", unloading them, keeping them, ifor a week, xelanding, and paying f >xytwico for the. steamer space." One of the interesting points is that itho officers of . tho Service wanted to -fihurit.- tho cattle ' aside and take on some racehorses which had been booked ■to Trentham. Finally, according to '•Mr. M'Kenzie, the horses were left .at •the Creek. . No "T" truck, declared the con-. . ,'fiignor, is fit to. convey cattle in. The .strain ■ arrived in Wellington all right •'...tat-about noon, but great difficulty was .. experienced in getting tho cattle into ibexes, owing to the amount of room •they had for running about! In fact, ; :, said Mr. M'Kenzie, they., had to be jhead-rbped and pulled in with the aid : 'of a steam wincn. No.damage, so far as ho ..knew, actually occurred to the leasts; but they were' heavy in calf. > He made no complimentary reference ,to the manner in which the Union '•■ Company handled the .stock, but de•jclared. that if any private person did. what the Government were doing to • .: (Cattle' every day they would be' proseJcuted for to animals. "If I had known' as much before ::. [railing as: I. do" now," Mr. M'Kenzie went on, "those cattle would never havo come by railway struck. I would •have paid my men £1 a day and had •the cattle driven .carefully over the hill,' /•'(and they would havo arrived in Wel- ; ?lington in .better condition and my would havo been better satis■iicd." •Opinions of M.P.'s. The complaint of Mr. M'Kenzie is jnot by any means the-only one of its •kind. A well-known member of tho Xowor Houso reminded the writer of a .-''•i-Sase in about February or March-last. :' -Several trucks of wethers from Mariga- . iainoka were consigned to Masterton. ; . 'The consignor telegraphed to the con- . , signeo. (a farmer residing near Master•ton) that the wethers would be down So Masterton on a certain. Saturday . fanorning.,, • Tlio consignee went to meet the "sheep at the stated time, but they . ■ lad not arrived, nor was any information obtainable. as to tho reason of do- : :tention. The wethers had to be un- •'.'. -trucked again at Mangatainoka, they . were detained there in the yards till ;Monday without food, and they arrived ' in Masterton on the Monday. The meat freezing' companies' buyers in getting trucks for their stock frequeirsly have had to . delay a day or two. , The iesult ; of course, has been a _ loss of condition to stock and . disorganisation of operations at the ' freezing works. One day, perhaps, : thero would be not nearly enough stock at _ the works to keep the slaughterers going and the freezing machinery fully employed. And, just as likely, on the .; next day there would be a glut of stock too great to be-immediately dealt with. These two cases concern the Wairajapa ■ particularly, but the trouble has not been 'confined to East Coast lines. "Oil the.West Coast," declared a member of Parliament yesterday, "the state of 'affairs was very much worse." Another M.P., judging by tho -bit- ' teraess of his observations on the way the railway caters for the public, conI eiders the existing state of affairs be.yond toleration. He says that the Wai•rarapa was' better served by tho Railway Department twenty years ago. It is probable that, some rather pointed questions relating to the railways will be asked in the Houso next week, and that some fairly critical observations will bo made.

. The summer show of the Manawatu A. and P. Association is to be held on November 2, 3, and 4. • A. point concerning the payment of dividends was raised at the annual ' meeting of. the Lovin Co-operative Dairy Company. Jlr. Dixon asked if the dividends declared last year had been paid. Tho chairman replied that they had not been paid, the resolution passed at last meeting, authorising ■ payments, having been illegal. Tho : directors intended to recommend that ;■.';-the balance of profit and loss (£527) should be used to clear off fho balance owing to the new factory. Sir. Saxon said that a resolution was passed last, year declaring a dividend of 5 [jci cent, (says the "Horowhcnua Chronicle"), and he maintained that the paying of no dividend—to iion-supplierSj at any rate —was ho inducement to pay tip calls. The company was formed in part of non-supplying shareholders, and these took their shares in the hope of getting some recompense for the money invested. Sir. Arnold, u director, replied that no dividend should bo paid before the. company was placed upon a firm basis. A largo amount had been paid upon tho new factory, and liabilities incurred thereby, and it would be dishonest if tho directors recommended a, dividend before these debts were cleared off.