The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1170, 16 January 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1880.

The question of railway reform is being forced upon ns. With a system paying only two per cent, in the aggregate above working expenses, newspapers and people have not resolved upon investigating the matter a bit too sooii. We admit that the past year has been an exceptionally bad one ; but new lines have been opened, the proceeds from which should have compensated in some degree for the decrease of the general revenue of the department, which has called attention to the necessity for reform. It is argued that the grain season, upon which we are about to enter, will revive business and the traffic on our railways. But a revival of business at this period has always occurred. The only real difference this year will be that it will appear to be so much greater in consequence of the unusual depression which has preceded it. Taking the whole season through, the railway department affords us nothing upon which to congratulate ourselves. A profit of two per cent, per annum will do but little towards paying the ponderous obligations which the Colony ha 3 incurred for railway construction, and what about renewal of lines and wear and tear ? The subject is a serious one, and it would be the height of imprudence to burk it any longer. Political and all other considerations should be thrust aside in order to grapple with the difficulty in a manner commensurate with its magnitude. We hope that our contemporaries, taking this view, will ofier good counsel. The Otago Daily Times is ably discussing the question, but it is committing the very grave mistake of viewing it through Dunedin spectacles. On Wednesday our influential contemporary coincided with the idea expressed by Mr. Oliver in his Public Works Statement that " our efforts must now, therefore, be directed to the economical management of our railways, and, amongst other means, I think the keeping accounts of the various sections separate and distinct, so that it may be seen what each is earning and spending, will have the good effect of arousing emulation among the officers, as well as of showing on which of the lines a different system of working should be adopted." In support of this view, our contemporary cites the Wairarapa line, which passes over the Rimutaka Range,the gradients being 1 in 40 for 15 miles and 1 in 15 for 2i miles. Previous to the construction of this line, the Wairarapa settlers paid L 4 10s per ton for carriage, whereas they paid until lately only 10s. per ton by railway. The impropriety of continuing such an inadequate charge has induced the Government to make a charge for passengers and freight as though the line were five miles longer. Our contemporary argues that the same policy should be applied to the other lines of the Colony which are more than ordinarily expensive to work. So far the argument is eminently just. Nothing could be fairer than that those who use these lines should contribute a quota in proportion to their unusual expensivenes3, provided that such quota does not operate prohibitively, and thus reduce rather than increase the income derivable from working them. It requires but little argument to prove that the whole population should not be taxed in thi3, any more than in anything else, for the special benefit of a few sections of the population. The principle of a uniform tariff, taking no cognisance of the nature of railways and the cost of working them, has the effect of making those properties which are remote on account of their inaccessibility as valuable as those which are at the same distances from porta of shipment a3 they are, and to which acces3 is easy. It enhances the value of lands for which a mera song has been given because of the natural disadvantages of their situation, until they are as valuable as those for which higher prices have been paid because of their accessibility, and the enhanced values come out of the pockets of the people. To maintain such a system, especially in the face of the present unremunerative position of the railways of the Colony, would be equal to robbing a section of colonists for the benefit of the other. Either the rates charged for freight and passengers on the leas expensive lines should be reduced, or they should be increased on the expensive lines. It is, however, evident that the revenue must be increased rather than reduced, and the first movement in this direction should bs to make people pay according to the benefits they receive and the cost of providing those benefits. Our contemporary appears to coincide witli us so far, and yet it does not. It practically says : Tax the Waiararapa and all other line 3 the construction of which has been, and the maintenance and working of which are, more than ordinarily expensive ; but there should be one exception, and that is the DunedinOamaru line." It 3 arguments are specious. But it expresses a suspicion that it may be told by Canterbury that Otago should pay the extra working expenses over its heavy grades. But (it says) the line between Oamaru and Dunedin is a coastal one, and the rates must not be increased, whatever may be its nature, because water carriage must be competed with. It points out to Christchurch, by implication, that in this respect the of Dunedin and Christchurch are one, and thereby places its tortuous, aerial, and otherwise eccentric lines in the same category as those of the Canterbury Plains. How cunning of our contemporary. It holds up Timaru as a red rac to Christchurch, so that it may secure its co-operation in a system that will go far toward* snuffing out both

Timaru and Oamaru, towns which, in the estimation of the two great centres of population of this island, have no right to a place on the map. Our contemporary says that cheap rates on the Otago and Canterbury lines may injure Oamaru and Timaru, but the injury will be compensated for by . the benefit that will accrue to the merchants of those districts by bringing, the grain more cheaply to market or a, ship-' ping port. This means that the vested interests of Oamaru and Timaru, the shipping interests, and the railway revenue, are to be sacrificed at the sbrina of Dunedin and Christchurch. We will .leave Timaru to fight its o.wn battles. Its position may be a more difficult one than ours. But there can be no doubt that the idea of leaving the Dunedin line out in advocating the necessity for a reform that will make each line pay according to its character is obviously the outcome of that supreme love for Dunedin which would render everything even the whole Colony—subservient to its interests. No line of argument —let it be never so clever —will, we hope, inveigle the powers that be into the perpetration of such an injustice.