MORE DIFFERENTIAL EATING AGAINST THE NORTH.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 23 August 1911, Page 3

MORE DIFFERENTIAL EATING AGAINST THE NORTH.

TO THE EDITOR. gi r? — The Gazettes of the Ist and 9th of June and £7th July give us . JP^I-he railway working for +he first 12 ,-weeks of the cuirent financial year. They are worthy of a little study. ; It is. impossible for anyone with the slightest knowledge of railway transit to believe that they are being administerd in the interests of the Dominion. I shall perhaps arrest attention if I at once'state that the average passenger fare in the North Island is now 2s Bid fot every man, woman, and child, first-class, secondclass, long distance or short distance while in the South Island for the same servico the charge is only Is B^d. Imagine on our national railways on average difference of Is per faro. It is simply monstrous! And remember this differential fare has arisen since 1908, This is what the Gazettes say: — NORTH ISLAND. Passengers, Both Classes of Fares, for the First Quarters of the Financial Years 1910 and 1911. Fares. Number of fares in 1910 ... 1,242,811 Number of fares in 1911 ... 1,369,655 Increase in quarter ' ... 126,844 £ " Ordinary Passenger " Revenue, 1910, 154,189 "Ordinary P.assenger" Revenue, 1911, 185,194 Increase in three months £31,005. Average fare during 1911 quarter, 2s B}^d Increase since 1910, 6%d Goods on which Freight is Charged by Number. Items. Number in 1911 ' 944,474 Number in 1910 ■ 889,308 Increase ••• 55,186 This is for the first 12 weeks only. "What the Government receive for this service they do not reveal, so I can only do as they have done —reckon it in with goods by the ton. £ Goods on which Freight is charged at per Ton. Tons. In 1910 quarter 434,168 In 1911 quarter only 412,166 Decrease 22,002 For this service the North paid in 1910 £240,100 ;in 1911, £239,240, a decrease of £860, and an average price per ton of ]Is 7d, and an increased differential goods rate of 11 id per ton on every ton of goods since 1910. Let us now devote a little attention to the South Island. SOUTH ISLAND. " Ordinary Passengers " of Both Classes. —In the First Quarters of 1910 and 191 L 1910—First 12 weeks 1,072,454 1911—First 12 weeks 1,260,050 Incaease in 12 weeks ... 187,595 Average passenger fare in first quarter, Is BV£d. Increase since 1910, OJ4d per passenger, as against 6%d in the North. £ Passenger Revenue. 1911 ... . 145,715 Passenger Revenue, 1910 ... 119,028 Increase in three months —26,687 Goods on which Freight is charged by Number Items. In 1910 1,484,631 In 1911 1,275,525 r Decrease 209,086 Goods on which Freight is charged at per Ton. Tons. In 1910 ... ... ... 983,937 In 1911 only 922,327 The average charge on which was 6s 8d per ton against the 11s 7^(l in the North It is quite impossible for me to believe that these rates ars made with any honest intention. If they are, then I say Sir Joseph Ward and the Hon. J. A. Miller are the most incapablfi pair that ever gained pos session of a railway system. I have raad with amazement more than once Sir Joseph's statement that "If I wished I could with a stroke of my pen raise the xate of interest payable ■.by our railways to 10 per cent, but those who ask me to do this know V'iW well that by doing; it I should Nta?u"m our farmers." Nobody ever did .Task him to do do it, and the bare iact >r~ -of his making this absurd utterance ~" ---^ proves his absolute Avant of knowled " ge of the whole subject. Does he really imagine that by ruining the farmers he can make the railways pay 10 per cent ? This is what he says he can do. Samuel Vaile. .Auckland, August 10, 1911. You can easily get rid of that cold by taking Tcnking's Linseed Emulsion.— From all chemists mad stores, Is <3d, •j