RAILWAY ABUSES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6504, 31 December 1881, Page 3

RAILWAY ABUSES.

'■ (Otmtvrtatry Timet.) It is to be hoped that the new Parliament, which may bo regarded in the light of a now political broom, will sweep owur some of the obstructions which have hitherto retarded the progress of agriculture in Canterbury, and give our farmers something like a fair chance of competing with other countries. So far as the charges upon tho railways are concerned the majority of members returned for country districts in Canterbury uttered no uncertain opinions as to the necessity and the justice of a reduction, but this part of the subject of railway management has already been pretty fully discussed, and we do not intend to reiterate arguments which must be selfevident to the dullest comprehension. In the course of time light may even dawn upon the Ministerial mind. Tho Government is an economical one, and is at present eo busily engaged in looking after the pennies that it boa no time to p»y any attention to the pound*. Travellers tell us t hat in some ports of the world it is not unusual to see gardens floating on the large rivers and lakes. These curious structure* are composed of rafts covered with vegetable soil. The yield of produce, so far es it goes, is most luxuriant, and the period of time between sowing and reaping is remarkably brief under the genial influences of unlimited moisture below and warmth above. But it is obvious that a nation which conducts its agriculture on this principle can never become great producers. And strange to say on the banks of the very lakes and mere where these floating palaces are to be seen, there aro swamps which if drained would be of untold richness; but the people have not the intelligence or tho strength of mind to enable them to undergo a long spell of arduous toil when tho return, though great and certain, is not immediate. We shall not make any comparison, our readers are fully competent to do that for themselves. The scale of charges is not the only ground upon which farroere may Justly complain of the railway management. When a man pays a high price for services rendered, he bos a right to expect to be served well. In the ernsh of the grain season, however, eo far from getting pood value for his money a farmer thinks himself lucky to get hie grain forwarded at all, and as for any guarantee that the full amount delivered will reach its destination, and in good order, no experienced customer of tho railways allows himself _to indulge in any sanguine expectations. By paying a certain amount per ton the fanner is allowed tho privilege of loading up tho truck* at his own expense, if there happens to be any trucks on hand. The station-m uter is instructed to give a receipt for tho truck, but will not be answerable for any quantity. If the farmer pays an additional charge per ton. tho railway servants are supposed to take delivery of the grain and load up tho truck, and tho station-master gives a receipt for the number of bags. At busy stations, however, the storage room and tho number of bonds provided by tho Government ore generally so inadequate that the farmer finds that bis own employees hove etUl to do a largo portion of the work of Stowing and loading If the floor of the •tore is fall, and there ore no truoke to hand, the Government is generous enough to provide a rope and pulley, thus enabling the farmer to hoist the bug* by yoking one of hie own horse* on to tho end of the *oid rape. Beallr it is not surprising that the Canterbury railways should give a good return when tbeMinistor of Public Works bo* #0 many ingenious device* for getting at the pockets of the farmer*. That exalted official draw* laiwelv upon the ewdulity and simplicity of tho ogrioullural population. Tho farmer pays the additional sixpence per ton and goes away with a receipt for the number of bag* delivered, and flatters himself that should there bo a deficiency in t he quantity when the grain arrives at its destlnaion he has got tho Government in a very tight place. P«b*P* » few base are lest on tho rood, which ie not at all an unusual thing, and armed with hie mSpt be applies for redress, but, fond man, he finds that he must lira » Uttio longer yet before bo is ft match for tho estate he*d of the railway deportment. The railway servant., it 1. true, gave* »«iptfor nuraher of bsg* delivered, but they cannot no responsible tor other people’s mUUkee. The railway department does nut hold itself accountable tor quantities when the grain is XS off itft print* siding, and ft# nrariy ftll the grain In the country goes to• privato sidings, the Government gets its extra *»* n«Doe • ton without doing any work or undertaking any responsibility worth speaking # *lJnder tho now regulations the begs must not contain more tlan four busheU. by which arrangement the unfortunate grata* grower ie compelled to undergo an additional turn of the screw. Last year wme of the leading exporter* of grain Jeiued circulars advising former* to put if possible tour bushel, and eighty pounds in each bag. #0 that two bag* should make an ongusn quarter, and thus simplify and facilitate toe transaction* of selling and buying. But tho Minister of Public Work,, it appears, wishes it distinctly to bs unOerstood that the country is tor the railways, and not the railway* for the country. The cost of bag* is a very

directly or indirectly Um producer la tha man who pay*. The more grain Ibal each bag holde the smaller la tha nnmbar of twga reJ aired for a given quantity. Thia ie a very imple problem to arithmetic, and it follows that if only four bnahala are put in a bag when it it capable of holding font and i-balf bushels, the coat of the bag upon each bushel it appreciably increased in compariaon to what it would be if the >«• wore filled. I Truly the population of the Colony other than agricultural should be deeply grateful to a Government which guard* their intemt so jealously against a rapacious community of farmer*. Moreover the file cute both way*, and the ingenuity of the Government eland* mealed more distinctly than ever. By the four baihels In a bag regulation, the Public Work* department not only guard! Itself against lo«* in the matter of .haulage from country to town, bnt alto eniuree a large bach carriage from town to country. 'lf the railways were administered on anything like broad, and liberal principle*, no one would suspect that trifle of back carriage in tbi* ease had been taken into consideration. But it mbit not be forgotten that we are living under a Government of economy and details; a Penny Saving* Bank Government, one that desires to see every pupil in the State School* each with his, or her, little stocking full of copper* put by for a rainy day, therefore it it not likely that the most 'magnificent mean* of aooese to the fanner*’ pocket* has been overlooked, We scarcely know whether to admire moit the stoical and almost eublimc patience of (ho farmer, or the unrivalled ingenuity of the Government.