The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, APEIL 2, 1885.

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 123, 2 April 1885, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, APEIL 2, 1885.

Eailway Reform

Ox the subject of the railway system of the Colony and certain suggested reforms thereto, Mr Vaile, of Auckland, who is preaching a crusade against it, addressed a public meeting at Dunedin a few days ago. He said that he thought all must admit that the present system of railway management, had been a most miserable and absolute failure, for it had brought about ■ neither the commercial nor social prosperity the people had a right to expect from it. Now this is a very easy thing to say, but difficult to prove, or at least to make intelligible, inasmuch as it is utterly impossible to even guess at " -what people had a right to expect." In trying to make out a good indictment Mr Vaile goes somewhat too far, and however faulty the system may be, it cannot be called with either truth or justice " a most miserable and absolute failure." Moreover, it should be remembered that " political railways " were tagged on £o the original great scheme as inaugurated by Sir Jtxlius Voqel, and these', instead of being " feeders," turned out to be " suckers " from the grand arterial trunk system. The " system," as entrusted to tho»e in whose hands the working of it was placed, was made most difficult by these branch lines which never paid expenses or even assisted in swelling the grand total of tonnage on the main lines. Thus the profits which were made on the paying sections, such as Napier, Wanganui, Westport, went to make up the losses created in the South Island by non-paying lines. A great point is made of the instances where goods are carried' by horses and drays for short distances cheaper than by railway, but this point is lost when it is explained that the cause of the cheapness is in the "handling." When a farmer has to. deliver his grain, or whatever produce he has for the market, he js at the expense of loading his drays, and if it is sent by rail, the "handling" is increased four fold. He has to unload at the railway station, where the produce is again loaded into truck's.'.. Arriving at its destination, it is unloaded and again loaded on a dray; taken to store and unloaded again, whereas if the dray is taken for the distance of say twelve or fourteen miles of good road, there is only one loading and one unloading, and all the intermediate expenses of sending by rail are saved to the producer. Beyond the distance quoted it is practically impossible for drays to compete with the railways, atod even then the roads must be exceptionally "good. The Jay stem proposed ,by Mr Vaile^s to reduce the fares to such an extent that where 4/2 is charged for a firstclass, and- 2/10 , for a second class passenger, only -/6 and ,-/4 respectively would be charged. His system would be to charge by stages and to abandon the mileage system altogether, and this would place settlers in distant places on an equality wi£h those who live near the large centres of population as regards means of transit for themselves and their produce. It would give value to land in distant places and would not take anything from jthe centres of population. Here Mr Vaile has borrowed from, the system of tariff for grain adopted in America, where it is found to work well", but the cases are not parallel, inasmuch as on the plains of America •■' ."■'■'•■ I i ; the number of stations are very small aa compared with New Zealand, and the stoppages few in proportion. ; It is here" that 'an enbrmtius expense is entailed, the magnitude of which is seldom appreciated by the; general public. Every station on a line'means at the least the wages of two men, besides, the costpf. the buildings, &c^ and the cost of stopping, and shunting a train is in itself no small item; Therefore all calculations based ion premises selected, from the American railway system must be very, carefully examined before they are accepted as infallible. In proposing 'a new plan, for working the New; Zealand railways the circumstances of .this Colony, and ■it alone, must be considered.. The experience of other parts of .tHe world in railway, management js yet in' its infancy, and w,e' are -perfectly satisfied that no system lias yet-been invented^ which can 1 be declared faultless. '

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