Railway Management

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 45, 24 September 1885, Page 2

Railway Management

The proposals which were put forward by Mr Yaile, of Auckland, respecting the rates and fares on the New Zealand Railways have been reported on by Mr Maxwell, the General Manager. We have not had the advantage of seeing this report, but a contemporary characterises it as singularly incisive. Mr Maxwell can find nothing in Mr Vailb's so-called scheme of management, save only some very extravagantly expressed opinions on the subject of rates and fares, mainly unsupported by facts and with many errors and misstatements. Mr Maxwell points out that Mr Yaile openly advocated lowering the fares on the Government lines in order that higher ones might be secured on the Eotorua line, in which he is a shareholder ; and that while "Mr Vaile's crude and incomplete proposals " are on the differential basis, he in subsequent letters "violently condemns differential rating and scurrilously attacks those who. do not agree with his projects." Mr Maxwell gays': "It is difficult to discuss seriously the inconsistencies and misstat«ments with which Mr Vaile's writings abound : when he suggests that it costs no more to carry a ton of passengers than to carry a ton of coals, he is writing nonsense, though he may

be unaware of it," and accuses him of ' ' making a statement which is misleading, and drawing a conclusion which, is false." "He may or may not be aware of this," observes Mr Maxwell. "In either case he is equally untrustworthy as a guide, and consequently should forfeit all claim to the respect of intelligent men as an authority." Mr Maxwell has now given the opportunity so long waited for, and we confidently expect that Mr Vaile will write an equally " incisive " reply. But we are of opinion that Mr Maxwell carries too heavy metal for the reformer.