Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, MAY 28, 1889. £10 A MONTH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 270, 28 May 1889, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, MAY 28, 1889. £10 A MONTH.

The desirability of having a claihtrain service bfitweon Foxton and P.ihnorston has I men brought under the notice of the Railway Commissioners by the Press and the public bodies of the two towns inte 1 ested. At present the appeal has not obtained any result, beyond the official statement that the matter will be taken into consideration. If the case was not so urgent, if the delay meant only that the convenience of passengers was ignored, we should be ready to wait for the consideration of the question, for some time longer, but as the delay means loss of money, to the owners of the regular trading steamers, to the storekeepers of this and our neighbouring town, and grave inconvenienco to the owners of the hemp mills, w •■•• are not prepared to "rest and bo thankful," though we should be thankful to be allowed to rest from a constant repetition of this subject, by the concession being granted. We do not want to imply that the local jealouses of another port, or that the influence of holders of stock in au opposition line, have anything to do with the delay, as far as the Commissioners are concerned, though we must say that some influence ia at work somewhere, so that the facts shall not reach the Commissioners ears. When the Mayor met the Chief Commissioner, and mentioned the largely improved traffic the revival of the flax industry has brought to the line, he was met with a deliberate statement of the Traffic Manager that there was only an increase of £10 a month in the railway returns. The statement appeared so absurd that the gent'emen who accompanied the Mayor looked at one another in astonishment O course thore was no chance at that interview to secure an inspection of the acA counts, so we were unable to admire/ the skilf ullness of the book keeping which could so easily disp se of lie extra receipts, as to enable such a statement to be made. We have at last we believe discovered some excuse, but it helps to show up in a more glaring light, how well di? posed people may be bluffed. We think, the Traffic Manager would be able to say that he meant that the railway traffio from January to MftfoU liwt, wUowod only £30 profit

on the quarter from October to December laat. If be meant this, it is not at all what was understood by any of bis heavers. The I epduiber quarter had the wbdl traffic, and the March quarter had only a portion of the iiax traffic. Jt was put to the Chief Commissioner "hpw about the present state of the trade ?" but uo returns having actually • een prepared, the answer was to the effect that as yet they were not prepared to *t"te what it was. Of course this is only playing with the question, the merest glance at what is going on wil prove to the meanest capacity that the trade that lids been ddrie oil the line and wharf, has trebled ..since the commencement of the year. We very much expect that the earnings of the wharf are manipulated, we know that some years ago they were, and probably the same arrangements are still in force. The wharf is part of the railway, and the more money oarnt on the whai'f, iiiake?i iitdre money for the line, and vice versa. For a gentloman to inform his chief, in the presence ot trademen who are d il v transacting their business at the wharf and railway, that the line has only earnt £10 a'tnonth since flax has been started, is to ask them. to deny their own identitity. "We are prepared to state that for the last three or four months the coal discharged on the wharf has yielded more money in wharfage fees alone. For the past three months tliei ehas boon an export of three hun dred tons a month of dressed hemp, and the wharfage on that, averaging fifteen pence a ton would over represent the asseried increase. Besides this there has been a large amount of handling of the hemp, and weighing, out of all which the department extracts an extra charge, and makes an increased profit. During the last three or four mouths, a very large number of porable and other engines have arrived on which the wharfages must have been considerable, and for the unloading of which stiff sums were demanded for the use of the crane. With an increased population of over one thousand, in the district through which the line runs, it is ab-urd to say that the passenger traffic alone has not exceeded £10 a month, besides the very largely increased imports of genera) merchandise. The accounts we are not answerable for, but the facts we have stated cannot be refuted. And now after all has been said what is supposed to be the in» creased expenditure required on the part of the department to run the train on the two extra days? The deputation obtained the estimate from the Chief Commissioner, which was also concurred in by the Traffic Manager. It .amounted to the pay of two men for one day, the cost of coals to drive the locomotive one hundred miles in all, and the wear and tear of 'rolling stock ! Yet tho Commissioners hesitate as to whether the increased business will warrant the outlaj' ! ! !