PUBLIC OPINION

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 310, 17 October 1929, Page 5

PUBLIC OPINION

(A COLUMN FOR THE PEOPLE) PREFERENTIAL RATES ON THE RAILWAYS. (To the Editor) Sir, —Anent my letter in your issue of the 10th instant I would like to draw your readers’ attention to a recent move by the Railway Department to win back some of its lost trade. Just recently the department announced that the freight on certain classes of goods carried by rail would be reduced between Auckland, Hamilton and Cambridge, the reason for this move being that motor competition between these places is so keen that the department had no alternative but to lower its rates if it

wanted to win back the lost trade from the motor. Evidently the motor can beat the railway for shortdistance traffic but not for longdistance traffic. So by lowering its rates to these last two places the department hoped to win back its lost trade, while at the same time holding on to the long-distance traffic. In this I think the department is mistaken, for it will now be possible for Putaruru business people to order their goods to Cambridge. Thus they will reap the benefit of the preferential rate to that town. Then the motor will pick it up and bring it to their doors, and the combined rail and motor freight will, I venture to suggest, be lower than the straightthrough rail freight from Auckland. It will easily be seen that though the Railway Department will win its short-distance traffic back it will lose the long-distance traffic. In other words, what it makes on the “ swings ” it will lose on the “ roundabouts.” One other matter which may eventuate through the department’s action is that it will force a percentage of the motor lorries out of the “ preferential rate zone ” and compel them to seek trade outside the area of the preferential zone, this will probably mean keen competition between motor lorry owners, which in turn means more wear and tear on our roads. It will then be the ratepayers’ turn to squeal. So neither the department nor the ratepayer will gain anything. To my mind the only feasible way to make our railways pay is to abolish all concessions, preferential and penal rates on our railways, and to strike a lower rate on all classes of goods carried by rail and give favours to no one. In short, we should adopt the same policy towards our railways as we do towards our roads, viz., “ that the users of the railways should pay for the railways.” But nothing will be done until the country residents demand it, for they are the ones mostly affected by the railway freight rates, and on this matter the local Chamber of Commerce could be of some use, if it cares to take the matter up.—l am, etc., L.M.N.