Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1896. The Manawatu Railway.

Manawatu Herald, 27 June 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1896. The Manawatu Railway.

Every settler beyond the district served immediately by the Mana watu railway desires to see the Government the owners. The reason is not very far to seek, it being purely personal. As the lines are at present managed the cost of sending anything by rail to Wellington from north of Palmerston costs more per milo than c. similar distance on either line, because, both the Government aud private lines chai-ge according to their own mileage. That is to say upon goods entering either line a new set of distances commences. In large cases as in small, thus a hundredweight of fruit can be sent to Napier or New Plymouth for one shilling, but from Foxton to Wellington ifc will be charged two shillings, for the Government take it as far as is desired at one charge and the company so much- further afc their one charge, very nice for the railways but very unsatisfactory for the producers. Thus these prayers for purchasing the line. To our mind the settlers hav6 not, beyond the expense they are pufc to, one care whether the shareholders of the company still own the line or not. This question has however a very serious point as viewed by the ratepayers of the Horowhenua County, and at a meeting of the Wirokino Road Board, which wield 3 control over a very large portion of the same district the matter was fully discussed and it was determined to recommend the dwellers within the boundaries of the County to have nothing to do with asking the Government to take over the line. Mr John Davies, the chairman of the Road Board said : — He " questioned very much whether it would be the to interests of this district for the Government to take over the line. The rates the Company now paid on its assets to the Board amounted to £363, and to the Horowhenua County £357. Altogether, he considered that the taking over of the railway by the Government would mean a loss to the County ot £1000 a year. In the face of this he didn't think it would be at all a wise thing to ask the people in this district to support the petition, particularly as the Company was bound down regulate its traffic rates acoording to the scale fixed on the Government lines." Thus there are always two sides to every question and we sympathise with the view put forward by Mr Davies. Ifc need not, however, prevent the users of both lines from getting consideration. We are not prepared to say which side is to blame, but it certainly seems feasable to arrange a give-and-take freight between the company and the Government so that through freights could be charged. If, as it is so often stated, low rate 9 command increase of business, both lines should benefit by the adoption of some such system, and we hope an effort will be made to secure this

result. In tho face of the very heavy loss in rafces both County and Road Board would suffer, it would appear wise if the Chairman could devise some such agitation, and thus stifle the outcry of settlers outside their influence. The petitioners want the freights over both lines reduced to that which would be charged were they under one control, and gaining that they care for nought else. A little time, and a little work, should be all that is needed to show how much difference this new arrangement would make in the earning power of the Company, which is only to be considered, for did the Government take the line over as asked, they would be bound to make this loss. Taken in this light, aud remembering that tbe Company's line is the shortest, the sum in issue cannot be so very large.