South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2366, 16 October 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1880.

A TKKHiniB outcry is being raised against the now railway tariff. Not only the foes but the quondam friends of the |Govc.inment have joined in the cborus of declamation, Brcto Llarte relates of the North American Indians and the gamblers of California that they met on the common basis of beans. In the same way the supporters of the Ministry and their avowed enemies seem to have met on the common basis of the carriage of grain. There is no logic, unfortunately, in the lamentations of the malcontents, but the absence of argument is made up by an exuberance of denunciation. All this wrath has arisen over a fractional increase of the rates hitherto charged for the carriage of produce. The Government is threatened with immediate extinction at the hands of its truculent admirers, because it has dared to add a few farthings per bushel on agricultural produce and general merchandise. Now we imagine that none of our readers will accuse us of being ardent admirers of the Ministry. We have all along criticised their policy with the utmost freedom, and the Government has come in for more kicks than ha’pence. But we have endeavored to make our criticism independent. We have hitherto disdained the parts of a sycophant or prejudiced opponent, and with regard to this railway tariff question, we intended to speak our mind freely. It is from no disregard of the agricultural interest that we are disposed to deprecate the meaningless, yet rancorous, opposition which the Government is encountering at the hands of its false friends. The Ministry is deserving of every credit for the determination which it has so far shown to reform the various departments of the State. They are only in the midst of their operations, yet what do wo find ? Every reduction, every dismissal, is followed by a despairing howl of dissatisfaction from the friends of the dismissed and the susceptible portion of the community. Yet the Government is simply doing the bidding of the country. The Ministry have been told to reorganise their departments, to keep down the expenses and get rid of the Civil Service excresenccs. Yet no sooner do they begin hewing and cutting than they encounter shrieks of dissatisfaction from the most unlooked-for quarters. The ebullition of bad feeling which is taking place over the new railway tariff is quite on a par with the outcry that is being raised on behalf of the discharged civil servants. It is perfectly natural that there should be some slight exclamations of surprise, but we trust the sufferers will suppress their angry emotions, A genuine attempt to make the railways pay is quite a novelty in New Zealand, and, like all innovations, it is bound to meet with some opposition. Hitherto the railways of the colony have been worked at a loss, sinqily because they are political railways. In Great Britain, America, and elsewhere, where railways belong to private corporations, they are worked at a profit to the shareholders. In this colony the people are the shareholders, and the Government in raising the tariff, reducing the staff, and lowering the expenses are consulting the interests of the people, not their own. If

the Ministry desired to be extremely popular with the commercial interests they would doubtless continue to work the railways at a loss to the community. It those who arc inclined to cry out because they feel the shoe pinch will only consent to bottle up their rage for a season and reflect over the matter, they will perceive that after all they are being very kindly and generously treated. The increased tariff will not affect the prospects of the farmer to any appreciable extent. What the grower of grain has to fear is not the carriage by land, but the monopolies on water, Eailway charges are a mere bagatelle alongside of the enormous profits of shipbrokers and shipping agents. Let the producers co-operate in such a way that they can dispense with the middleman and they will have nothing to fear at the hands of the railway department. Let those who are disposed to blame the adminstration for this alteration in the tariff reflect on the consequences of a transfer of the railways from the Government? 1 to a private company. Supposing the railways were leased to-morrow what kind of a tariff would be imposed? Would not those who use them be required to pay for the privilege ? Would not the lines be made productive ? The railway lines of the colony have been suspended long enough like a mill-stone round the necks of the population, and we regard the reforms that are being carried out in this department as one of the best and boldest strokes of policy that the Government has yet exhibited. We trust the Ministry will not be content with revising the tariff, but that they will go farther, and close, or partially close, the branch lines which are at present being worked at a loss. By doing this they will effectually silence those who are crying out about the railways in one part of the colony being worked at the expense of the more productive sections. In managing our railways the more closely the Government adhere to recognised commercial principles, and the more they endeavor to administer them as they would do if they were their own property, the better will it be for the whole community.