A Railway War in the North.

Manawatu Herald, 4 January 1898, Page 3

A Railway War in the North.

_^ GOVERNMENT AND THE MANAWATU RAILWAY. (Wellington correspondent to Chriatchurch Truth.) There is a great outcry hare about the action taken by the Government to divert goods and passenger traffic that would ordinarily coma by the Manawatu line over the Government line. Everything that can be devised is being done to injure the Manawatu Company. The result has, ls9 wevei^krt6ni6 extent raacted upon the Government, for there is a block on the line between WoodviHe and Wellington, and both passepgtr and goods traffic are disorganised. The fact of the matter is that tha Government have entered upon the task of demolishing the Manawatu Company before they wore properly prepared, and aa they have not enough plant to take the goods over the Bimutaka line, there is a block at Cross Creek, on the other side of the range. A large quantity of produce is now lying there under tarpaulins while a great goods shed is being built. The travelling public, too, are beginning to com plain loudly, for the delays are at present very vexatiou?. On one occasion tha through train from Hawko'a Bay was no fewer than three houra late, and nearly every night the train from Napier is half an hour to two hours late. With regard to the passenger service between Wellington and Hawke's Bay, if the Government would give the Manawatu Company a con neotion, the latter would convey all these passengers comfortable an hour and a half quicker than is now done. Begarding the competition, which many people hold to be an unfair one, 'it will interest Canterbury and Otago settlors to know that tha. Government are carrying wool from the Manawatu district, via the Wairarapa, a distance of 145 mile?, for 43 lid a bale, while they are charging the southern woolgrows about 8s for the Bame distance; and the poor Wiararapa farmer, who is only 60 or 70 mileß from the Wellington market, pays more than the Manawatu man 145 miles away. For instance, from Carterton to Wellington, 62 miles, the rate ia 5s Id per bale, and from Feilding to Wellington, 145 miles it is only 43 lid. The worst feature of this undue competition is that the traffic at these rates must result in serious los?, for which the other parts of the country must pay. The haulage with the Fell engines over the Bimutaka incline innifc always le ft costly butintgs;

for a lot of coal is used, and thewear and tear is very groat. Tho holiday passenger fares are on the same lines as the freights. The traffic from Hawke's Bay and the West Coast, according to the natural configuration of the country, and the Hue of route adopted by the two railways, should come via the Manawatu line ; and unless the Government are prepared to buy the latter railway, it seems only fair that they Bhould make some equitable arrangement in regard to this traffic. One of tho worst features in connection with tho competition, however, is the long hours worked by the men. Tho Wairarapa Times, referring to this phase of the quesition, says : — " On our local line of railway g<ation masters, guards, porters, shunters and others have recently keen workeJ, and are worked from day to day, phenomenally long hours. They have a jaded tired look about them, which is dis« creditable to their taskmasters. It i 3 true, some of them get overtime payments, but it is rest not extra mcney which they stand in need of. Given a staff of men broken down by overwork and a rolling stock inadequate for tho strain it has to bear and what is the natural result ?Is it not a railway accidt-nt ? We do not wish to prophesy evil things, but as things now are on our local railway a catastrophe ot some kind would not surprise us. And if it did happen, wo should place the blame on the shoulders of a Government which is not supplying the line with the necessary material and staff to cope with the existing traffic."