THE NEW RAILWAY TARIFF.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2093, 8 November 1880, Page 3

THE NEW RAILWAY TARIFF.

TO THB BDITOB OP THE PBESS. Sra, —I see by a paragraph in your paper of to-day that Mr Maxwell is about to visit this city with the view of enquiring into complaints made against the new Bailway Tariff. I presume this has something to do with the fact that several of the timber merchants have discovered that by having their cargoes brought in small vessels direct to the Heathcote river they would be able to get their timber into Christchurch at considerably less than one-half the present rates, by having it transferred into trucks at Lyttelton and brought by rail to Christchurch. What I really want to point out, however, is an apparent injustice to our local saw-mills in the tariff for long distances. Thus the haulage of timber from Lyttelton to Christchurch, seven miles, is lOd ; from Invercargill to Christchurch, 384 miles, is 6s. If this were charged at the Lyttelton rate it would be £2 5s 8d; or if the Lyttelton rate were assimilated to the Invercargill rate it would bo one penny and three-tenths. I am inclined to the opinion that both are wrong; for, making every allowance for a low rate for long distances, it is apparent that either the Lyttelton rate is vastly too high, or that the Invercargill rate is ridiculously low. So much so, indeed, that a serious loss must be sustained by the ratepayers of the colony on every truck of timber carried over the long distance, _ and this becomes the more apparent when it is borne in mind that the greater part of the long journey is over steep gradients, through a mountainous country. It may be thought that the comparison between Lyttelton and Christchurch and Invercargill and Christchurch is not a fair one. We will, therefore, let West Oxford and Christchurch take the place of Lyttelton and Christchurch. The distance in this case is 41 miles, and the haulage is charged at Is lOd, and in this case, be it remembered, the gradient is a light one and in favour of cheapness all the way. Now, were this charged at the Invercargill rate it would be sevenpenoo and seven-tenths. If these premises are correct it follows that an appreciable addition must be made to the taxation of the whole colony to make up the loss sustained on the carriage of timber over long distances by rail at present rates, and that our local saw-millers at Oxford, Waimate, Peel Forest, and the Peninsula are placed to a great disadvantage to serve the interests of those engaged in the timber trade in the South. Nor is this the only instance in which this part of the colony is most unfairly treated in the imposition of high rates—for example, the rate on shingle and sand has been increased from Kaiapoi to Lyttelton, and has thus stopped the industry altogether, while at the same time the rate for similar materials between Wellington and the Hutt has been lowered. Surely it is time that more attention should bo paid to the subject of rates, to insure something like consistency throughout the colony. We have two leading members of the Ministry hailing from Canterbury, and we trust and believe that when these glaring instances of what appears very like favoritism come under their notice, they will do their best to see us righted; otherwise I shall wish myself a Parliamentary, instead of a local practical Loo Boij.kb.