South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2396, 20 November 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1880.

CoxsiUKitAin.K dissatisfaction has been expressed in interested quarters in reference to certain recent alterations in the railway tariff. Some of the changes made were of a sweeping nature, and the managers of the department must have 1 anticipated that there would be a good deal cf outcry from the direction in which the shoe pinched. In their efforts to make the railways something less of a dead horse than they have always been to the colony, the management have had to cut and contrive in different directions. They have had to get rid of superfluous oflieers on the one hand, to revise the paysheets with a view to cconoim - , and to increase the goods tariff. The policy previously adopted when changes were deemed necessary, was to augment the staff, add a little to the perquisites or pay, and reduce the carriage rates. Such a sudden reversal of the screw, as that lately made, could nut fail to excite a cry of suffering. Those who felt the effects of the new tariff most keenly were beside themselves with rage, and at first the Ministry was threatened with immediate extinction. We suggested at the time that it was a case of all cry and lit.Hi* wool, ami that those who pretended to be aggrieved had really nothing to complain about. The districts chiefly affected were those most remote from the seaboards, and the agitators in these localitiesinadegood use of any arguments they could lay hold of. The farmers, for instance, were told that an increase in railway freights meant a reduction in their profits—or an increase in their losses where they had no profits to boast of. The fact, however, was carefully concealed that the speculative purchaser —the grain dealer and exporter—would pay the additional tariff. Our answer to the complaint was that the railway charges to the various ports were a mere bagatelle alongside of the commission brokerage and shipping charges to which the grain of the colony is subjected before it reaches the consumer. We have also contended that the railways have no right to be worked at a dead loss to the community, that those who use them should pay for them, and that the tariff should be regulated by the same sound commercial principles as obtain in ordinary business transactions.

TI ic Ashburton County Council appointed a committee lately to consider the new tariff, and as the result a statement was forwarded to the General Manager calling attention to certain alleged inequalities in the railway charges. Mr Maxwell’s reply completely cuts the ground from under their feet. He says Though not responsible for “ the present tariff, and considering it “ capable of many amendments, some of “ which have already been gazetted, “ and others of which are now under “ consideration, T cannot say that 1 think “ the grain rate imposes any great hard- “ ship on the Ashburton County. 1 find “ the present grain rate almost identical “ with that in force in the province of “ Canterbury in J 87(), which was retained “ in force until December last, and under “ which tariff the whole grain traffic of “ Canterbury has grown with such cuor- “ mous rapidity. The reduction of the “ grain rate in January of this year, was “ an error which the railways could ill “afford to bear at this time, and the “ re-establishment of the rale on the “ same basis as that under which the grain trade has so vigorously de- “ veloped, can scarcely be looked “ upon as a hardship.” The statement of fhe General Manager conclusively shews that there is really no ground for complaint. The reduction which was made in January last, was a piece of absurdity in the face of the circumstance that the railway department was not at the time in a position to throw

away any of its revenue. For the future, we presume, a greater amount of caution will be exercised in tampering with the railway tariff. Of course, where a high tariff is found to prejudice the settlement of the country or the development of trade, a reduction is advisable, but the object of the department must be to regulate the tariff, so as to render the lines increasingly reproductive.

There is one direction in which a reduction is likely to prove beneficial, and we are glad to see that the General Manager has taken the necessary stops in the matter. In the communication from which wo have quoted, he says : “In deference to your own and many other opinions, I have advised the Minister to make a reduction in the sheep rates.” The trallic in live stock is a branch which is capable of very wide development. Within the pant few months the graziers of Canterbury have made free use of the railway line in forwarding their stock to the Christchurch ami Dunedin markets. In the interests of settlement it is desirable that every reasonable inducement should be placed at the disposal of the stockowner. Grain can be readily exported but with stock the ease is different. The grazier must depend on the nearest centres of population for his customers. The facilities that are placed at his disposal hy reducing the cost of living and increasing the comfort of the people, are calculated to promote industrial growth and development, and, for that reason, we regard the step proposed as decidedly a step in flic right direction.