PASSING IT ON.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1358, 8 February 1912, Page 4

PASSING IT ON.

HOW STEAMER FARES WILL JUMP. "On February 14," writes a correspondent, "the general public, or that portion oi it which indulges in. regular or occasional sea-trips, will bo mauo to realise wuat the raeut rises in waterside workers' and seamen's wages are to cost them personally. Tlie trouble is, with most ol the conferences in which employer ami employee come together, that tiie general public, which is tlio sole and only siilferor, is not represented, it matters little to the shipping companies whether seamen get ss. or 7s. a (lay wages, or firemen get (is. or Bs. They, o: course, make a formal protest, there is a bit ol a wrangle, but in the end the men get most of what they want—at least it lias been so up to the present. "There is to be a. meeting of the Wellington Citizens' League on I'riday evening to discuss matters in connection with the recent tramways strike—a zephyr in a tea-cup compared with the big wagebill the travelling put lie, and, indeed, the public generally (for freights are going up as well as fares) will have to foot. Here are some figures to cogitate over respecting different trips:— Next Now. week. £ s. d. £ a. d. Single saloon to Sydney 7 0 0 7 7 0 Return to Sydney 11 10 0 12 1 C Round trip U 10 0 15 i G "On tho short trips the extra 5 per cent, on faros does not look much, but the extra Is. per head and Is. 9d. (for return) on the trip to Lyttelton would amount to a very large sum in a very short time. The steamship companies are not to bo blamed if Iho increase is an equitable one, but what I would like to know is where does the public come in. It is not sp. long ago , , when; the return fare saloon to Sydney was £6 10s.—now it is nearly double. -As to what iho increase ill freight* will mean the merchant can best tell, but he.passes it on promptly to the public. As the selfish man in 'A Message from Mars' says: 'It is all beautifully arranged !'"