CHEAP TRAVELLING.

NZ Truth, Issue 63, 1 September 1906, Page 4

CHEAP TRAVELLING.

Speaking on the Address-in-Reply m the Legislative Council last Thursday the Hon. C. Louisson complained about the treatment the tourist got at the hands of the authbrities :in the matter of his transit. He said' that travelling m this country was barbarous ; it was worse than it was 20 years ago. A tourist, he declared, had to rush about like a maniac before he could secure his luggage, and even then he had to almost present a pistol at the head of some official before it could be received. This paper quite agrees with a great deal that Mr Louisson said, but would go further and would point out that not only the tourist (who can afford to p.ay for his luxuries) but the colonial traveller, too, is put to no end of inconvenience, and m many instances is ruthlessly, rooked when he wants to shift his camping ground. The railway service for the most- part is exr cellent at the price. Nowhere m the world is there such cheap railway fares as m New Zealand, nor such liberal concessions m the way of excursion, season, and other privilege tickets. But' unfortunately there are only two of the principal centres Christohurch and Dunedin, that are connected by rail. To reach either Auckland or Wellington from either of these two towns, or Auckland from Wellington, it is necessary to journey by sea. And it is here that the anomaly m fares comes m. The visitor who doesn't understand the intricacy of these things and goes into mental arithmetic to discover the ratio of the train and steamer fare between Wellington and Auckland is very liable to find himself m a lunatic asylum. The railway journey (return) occupies just about 24 hours, and covers a distance of 502 miles. . This costs £2 5s lOd. The boat journey (return) occupies about 20 hours and covers 270 miles and costs £2 7s ! In any civilized country steamer fare is generally supposed to- be considerably below railway face, but m this democratic land of freedom, all the cheap travelling is done on -the railways, which belong to the people, while wealthy shipping companies charge exorbitant fares where, by nature of the country, they have a monopoly of the passenger traffic. That: it would pay these companies to run their steamers at very much reduced rates it is. only necessary to examine the fares charged when the steamers compete with the railway. For instance, the return fare 'between Auckland and New Plymouth is £2 7s, but for another £1 the passenger can go on to Wellington, considerably more than double the distance. The Christchurch-Well-ington ferry service fares are also exorbitant— £1 15s return for a twelve hours' run. £l return would be ample. Compare • these figures with some of the Australian fares. Saloon fare (return), with deck cabin,; from Newcastle to Sydney, an eight hours run, is only 12s 6d, or without deck cabin 10s. This is very little shorter than the New Plymouth-Onehunga trip, for which the Union S.S. Co. and the Northern S.S. Co. charge £2 7s. Allowing that the latter trip is half as far again and allowing 5s for the two meals, the charge to, be equal to the Hunter River S.S. Co?s charge should only be £1. , In the face of these fibres is it any wonder that the managers of our local- steamship companies can report large dividends and big additions to the companies' fleets at each annual meeting. And the remarkable part of the thing is that the people say f'hear, hear," when the said manager reads his report and take -pride m the colossal fortunes the companies are accumulating, quite overlooking the fact that they themselves are, pay ing through, the nose for it all. The completion of the Main Trunk Line will solve the New Ply-mouth-Onehunga problem, but the Christchurch-Wellington ferry service monopoly will continue until such time as the Government relieves the travelling public of. the burden by running a State service at reasonable rates.