BUTTER FREIGHTS.

Shannon News, 17 April 1925, Page 2

BUTTER FREIGHTS.

INEQUITABLE RAILWAY POLICY. POINTED CUxMMENT. The Palmerston Times deals trenchantly with the Railway Department's policy of discrimination In regard to u-etgints on dairy produce. It says: DISCRETIONARY RAILWAY REBATES.

The activities of the Railway Department in combating motor competition by meang of differential rates and rebates is Dy no means iueeuu 0 with unqualified approval, consmeraoie surprise was expressed >in the first place, when it became known that, in order to meet the growing road competition, the Railway Department had embarked upon discretionary tariff .rebates, a system which ■lad led to great dissatisfaction and caused, much trouble in much older countries than Mew Zealand. aitnougn this method of competing witn motor freights uiay have brougut a certain amuunt of business to the rau ways, there can be no doubt that the rapidly growing feeling of discontent, caused by the rebates which are bemg given to individual users of the hue will, before very long, outweigh by far all advantages gained in. this direction. Past in other countries have shown conclusively that' the principle underlying differefitial and discriminatory rates and rebates—no. matter what the business —are unsound in theory, and, in practice, will eventually defeat their own objective. The Times then quotes as a typical case the facts revealed in the recent interchange between Mr Rodie, Commercial manager of the Railways, and Mr S, A. Rroadbelt, -chairman of Di-

rectors 01 me i_.t:vm juany uvuiy*"^, in which the latter showed and the former admitted that, to meet motor competition the Department was carrying butter from Palmerston to- Wellington at the same rate as from Levin to'-Wellington, though the journay was thirty miles furtner. It continues: NOT STATING THE POSITION. It will be realised from the above statement, that the Commercial Manager of the New. Zealand Railways is more or less ignoring the true point at issue, but in addition, is not stat-

ing the exact position of the case. Fiom Mr Rodie's statement, one .might infer that the increase in the freight •of butter was 40 per cent, above prewar rates. As a matter of fact in 1915 an alteration was made in the classification of dairy produce which was Later followed by a further increase of 40 per cent., with the result that the. freight rates of butter show a total increase of 155 per cent. In other words, butter which in 1914 was canned a hundred mil.es for 14s. 7d per ton, is to-day charged 37s 4d per ton. -When comparing this heavy increase of 156 per cent, for dairy produce with an increase of 25 per cent, in passenger rates and 40 per cent. ait. general merchandise, the injustice, of the position and the' ease w.ith which motor traffic is able to compete in these lines snould become apparent. NOT GOOD BUSINESS.

We are, however, not so much conI cerned with the. tarnff and. classification of the various freights, as with the discrimination and rebates siiown to individual users .within these classifications. -»e certainly agree who Mr Rodie, when he says, that "tne only thing to do was to reduce freights, in order to get the business back," but w'l; do not hold with bun when he says that "like any business i concern, the Department had reduced I freights' wnere the competition was keenest." Discriminating rates and discretionary rebates may be the weapons of trusts and combines, but are certainly not the means by which reputable concerns, built up large and tasting business. No enterprise would retain the confidence qf its events for any length, of time by such methods and'a Government Department should i certainly be tne last to adopt mem. It must not be thought that we are holding a brief for road traffic. On the contrary, we think that the people's railways should be used for the people's business. At the same tune we do not see why the New Zealand Railways should not be able to compete with motor traffic. In the case of butter, by making an all round reduction of 40 per cent., the freight rate would Still be over 50 per cent, above the pre-war rate. If the tendency in the new freight tariff-is towards an increase rather than a decrease in freight rates, as Mr Rodie appeared to indicate at Levm, the Department is simply inviting additional trouble, and it is fair to assume that 80 per cent, of next season's butter will be carried by road. We repeat that the principle adopted by the Railway Department is not sound, and we are inclined to think that the Minister of Railways is exceeding his authority 'in charging different rates between the same points. The Railways are owned by the State and are intended for the general use of the taxpayers on equal terms. Cabinet has no doubt the power to make and gazette such rates as they see fit, but it is doubtful whether they have the power to discriminate as between .individuals by making differential rates or granting discretionary rebates on existing rates. Whatever the position, however, we are convinced that the present method adopted by the management of the Railways is not on sound and equitable lines, and before very long will defeat its own purpose.

Fluood Ilaynes. born in 1857 at Portland. Indiana, designed and constructed at Kokonio in the same State in lS!>:i-4, a horseless carriage driven by a petrol engine. This is Ihe oldest automobile known in America and is now in the museum of Smithsonian Institute. Tn Furope in the meantime automobiles had already bee'n running for several years. An Englishman named Butler in 1885 constructed what is believed to be the first motorvehicle (a tricycle) driven by a petrol engine with the charge exploded electrically. On the Continent in the late 'eighties, Daimler and Benz in Germany and Panhard and Levassor in France built cars which in the main contain the principle still used today in the vast automobile industry of the world.