The Globe. MONDAY, JULY 9, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 948, 9 July 1877, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, JULY 9, 1877.

The tariff of charges on the railway, recently issued by the Gfovernment has, we are glad to see, caused considerable public interest. It is now-a-days so much the fashion for the public; as a whole to look on with the greatest; apathy, when anything affecting their ; interest is proposed or carried into; effect, that the change is quite ref resiling. That a tariff containing thei anomalies and absurdities of the one just issued should be received with almost general condemnation was only to be expected. t Not only are the

charges in many cases largely increased, but the conditions under which some goods are carried are almost prohibitive, and will act most prejudicially on the development of commerce. Hitherto, in so far as was possible, those having the management of our railways have offered every facility to merchants and others for the carriage of their goods. The result has been that the Canterbury railways have stood pre-eminent amongst the lines of the colony for the amount earned by them. The absence of restrictive conditions and high rates of freight offered every inducement for the use of the railway very largely, and hence the result we have referred to. But under the new arrangement this will not be the case. Driven from the use of the railway, except when absolutely obliged to do so, it will be found that our farmers and others will choose other means of getting their produce to market to the detriment of the revenue. Besides this, there does not appear to be any tangible reason for the introduction of such a tariff, and in many cases, a large increase in cost of carriage. Here, at least, there is no falling off in the returns. The receipts under the old rates are lai’ge, and our lines go far beyond what they are in the hand of the Government only expected to do, viz., pay interest and sinking funds on the cost of their construction. Therefore no real reason existed for the change, the more so when it took the direction of one so utterly opposed to the best interests of the district. But not only in the matter of carriage of goods is the tariff objectionable. The alteration in the passenger fares, so as to cause an increase is a most injudicious step. We are extending our lines over the country in every direction, and it is policy —always bearing in mind that the Government are not supposed, like a company, to make a handsome revenue —to induce the public to make use of them. In the hands of the Government our railways are colonising agents. By means of them large tracts of laud, which under other circumstances would probably lie waste for years, are brought into the market. The commerce of the country is stimulated by the addition to its producing powers, and in many ways railway extension conduces to the prosperity of the district. It is obviously, therefore, the policy of the Government to afford every facility, within reason, for the public to use the lines. To this end, a fair and equitable passenger rate, with the additional inducement of return tickets at single fare on certain occasions, should prevail. But when we find that, at one step, the fares are increased per cent., it is time to protest. The result of this is so wide-spread that it not merely acts on the actual revenue received for fares, but it does so on the general community. A reduction in the number of travellers means less money spent in the centres of population, less business done by the merchant, the shopkeeper, and others. We are, therefore, rejoiced to see that the matter of the tariff is to be publicly discussed, and we hope that, while reference is made to that part of it applying to goods, the injurious effect of high passenger fares will not be forgotten.