The Feilding Guardian. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 1880. THE RAILWAY TARIFF.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 142, 13 October 1880, Page 3

The Feilding Guardian. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13, 1880. THE RAILWAY TARIFF.

The alterations in'the railway tariff have • met 'with Universal condemnation'from ' one end of the colony to the other. All sections of ■ the Press have taken the matter up in a manner that points conclusively to the fact that the pill offered by the Government is too bitter tor the people to swallow, and the nauseous dose will have to be withdrawn, and a remedy more palatable substituted. In levying an increased tariff of some 3s. per ton on . general merchandise, and 3d. per 100 ft. upon timber, the Government are drawling the ■ very life blood from the colony. and instead of having the effect of in- • creasing the revenue, it will simply ■ reduce the present traffic to such an cx- ' tent that in the course of a few months • there will not be a line in the colony paying expenses. Local industries in inland towns, which the Government some little time back appeared so anxious to foster, will be fairly smothered by this iniquitous tariff, more . jiarticularly that in which the people in this district are di- ! rectly interested —the timber trade. In | dealing with this subject the Wairarapa J Standard says :—"The timber trade"from ' the district was barely able to compete i with the Sounds before this additional impost One would have thought the ■ lesson taught by eighteenpenny telegrams would not have been thrown away on any Executive capable of learning. It is a matter this which concerns the public generally—and the landed interest more

than any other. If our railways cannot be worked and made to pay, they Mill have to be maintained on rates levied on land." After pointing out that in the United States goods are carried on the ■ railways 1,000 miles for twenty shillings per ton, our contemporary adds : —" It is the low tariff in America which has rendered the railway system so successful. It has been the railroad • that has made ether inventions there worth applying ; that has caused abundance to rule where famine might have stalked ; and now. strangest result of all. peacefully promises to alter the land tenure of Great Britain, and to feed her people with cheapness and'abundance." The result of the additional impost in New Zealand will be widely different, and instead of it causing " abundance to rule,"' increased 'depression and misery will exist. Our contemporary says if the Minister of Public "Works had made himself ae- ' quainted with the comparative statement • of tariff charges current on tbe Australian railways, which appeared as an appendix to tbe Public Works Statement, "his official imbecility might have been guarded against public exhibition." Before rushing beadlong into such a suici- • dal policy, Mr Oliver should have carefully considered tbe following important suggestion, which was made by Mr • Commissioner Lawsox, in his last report upon the railways of the North Island: " " Our tariff • has been framed upon a scale calculated to aid in promoting and ' developing settlement and production up--1 country; and lam of opinion that the principle of decreasing scale for distance is essential in a new country." Mr Lawson could see further ahead of him than his short-sighted superior, and had bis suggestion been promptly acted upon, "we venture to say that by this-time the 'Government coffers would have greatly ; benefitted thereby. As we suggested in ' our last issue the public should take im- • mediate and united action in the matter, and insist on the Government adopting the previous scale of charges, or a still lower one at once. There is not the slightest doubt that the excessive rates now charged on our railway lines cannot be maintained, but still pressure should be brought to bear upon the Government ■to alter them without delay, and before "we experience the disastrous results that will most assuredly ensue.