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THE COST OF LIVING.

A PIONEER SETTLER'S VIEWS. Sir,—Regarding t'be 'high cost of living, or tho cost of high living, I have just beon talking the .subject over with Mr. Thomas.Smith, of Damp. "I arrived in New Zealand," said the old gentleman, "on February 7, 1840, at tho age of 19, tlie good ship .Dulio of Roxburdi having taken four months from Plymouth. 'American flour cost £5 per 2001b. barrel, and the flour often required breaking with a hammer before bread could bo mads. Tea cost los. per lb., and guinea tea was talked of as high price. Coarse sugar cost 6d. per lb. upwards. The first beef I had cost 2s. Gd. per lb. I bought a ' cheap' pair of boots for 14s. from Mr. Tilford, Petone, and wore t'hem out in fourteen days. Ordinary working boots might cost £1 or £1 ss. Butter cost ss. per lb., and a quarter of a pound lad to last a family a week. Often the'vessels were delayed and waiting for flour from Valparaiso was not uncommon. * "To Aro flats provided a race-oourse for tho anniversary events. The few horses in the country were ridden by owners. The expenses of the meeting wero nil. Tho Hon.- Peters and Sir Frances Molesworth wero among the ridors. Foreign whal© boats and Maori war canoes took part in tho regattas. "Wages were half-a-crown per day. Work was hard to get even at 2s. Bd. per day. No triple expansion engines and freezing chambers m those days." With our leisure, conveniences, pleasures, amusements, entertainments, etc., tho old gentleman says we are living in the. lap of luxury. Tho life of a pioneer was one of terrible hardship. As reflecting the ideas of one of the makers of Neiv Zealand would you please insert-. —I am, etc., J. KRESLAND. Feathorston. "TIOKETB, FLEASEI" Sir, —In your issue of October 16 you refer to tho prevailing nuisance of checking tickets on the New Zealand railways. I am sure the new General Manager will smile when he discovers the methods that a.r» in use here in New Zealand. If the management would only adopt some of the, methods in uso in some of tho British railways it would mitigate tho evil to a great extent. Anyone who has scon tho methods in Britain, and compares them with thoso in use here is apt to wonder how the State manages to pay any dividend at all. If the management would make tho clerks, at stations where there is not a great number of trains passing, col- ( loct all tickets from passengers alight- ( ing at their stations, this would do away with the ticket-checkers going ; through tho trains, There san be no .

possible use for these checkers travelling 011 trains. Anyone travelling without a not drawing the guard's attention when joining tho train ■—to bo charged with the faro from which station tlio train started. This would soon put an end to people travelling without a ticket. This is usually the practice followed 011 tho railways in Britain. Tickets are generally checked a station beforo the terminus, and when going from 0110 company's line to another, in travelling in New Zealand this could bo avoided, as there is no such changes here. Any persons joining a train, say, at Auckland, should be able t.o travel to Wellington without any trouble as regards ticketchecking. Then, again, it is the usual practice in Britain that the guard has nothing to do with ticket-cheeking. Another matter that Is of some importance to travellers is that separate carriages are labelled for certain places. On the Scottish railways one can get a carriage for most of the import towns in England. This does away with any changing, of carriages. These passengers' tickets are checked before starting, but I think it will lie a long time before any such system will be needed in Now Zealand. In the meantime the Department should bring their service up to date, and not continue in tho old methods, as anyone who has had any connection with tho British railways can only laugh, at the methods in use hero.—l am, -etc., T. JI. MILLIGAN. October 16, 1913.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19131020.2.128

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1885, 20 October 1913, Page 11

Word count
Tapeke kupu
695

THE COST OF LIVING. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1885, 20 October 1913, Page 11

THE COST OF LIVING. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1885, 20 October 1913, Page 11

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