FREIGHTS

Southland Times, Issue 18839, 4 June 1920, Page 2

FREIGHTS

THE RAILWAY SCHEDULE.

On the subject, of railway freightu the Railway Review publishes an article ’dealing with what it terms the “ancient schedule.” The editor of the Review states that the Railway Department has made no substantia] increase in its rates of freight during n quarter of a century. “When the schedule of freights was consolidated in August, 1896, crossbred wool was wortli 7j;d to 8d per pound, and halfbred 7d to 7jd. Butter could be got in various qualifies from 5d to IGd per pound, and the farmer usually got 5d at the most. Cheese, was even worse from the producer’s viewpoint. for the most reliable publication dealing in those days with current prices puts cheese at o’/gil to 4d per (round. Sheep, too, were dirt cheap. I hey were most valuable for their skins, which, if fullwoolled, were valued at 4s (id to os 6d. Hemp was sold at £9 to CiT 10s per ton. of ‘good fair’ quality. With the Dominion's primary products commanding these modest prices one could hardly lie surprised at the Railway Department being careful not to load its traffic with charges which would make transport prohibitive.” The Review gives the following comparison of freights for 100 miles:—

“this comparison shows plainly that the railways have been paying their way at the expense of other lines of merchandise than the Dominion’s primary products, and that these freights bear absolutely no relation to values. The freight had actually declined on the products which have recovered so splendidly from the slump times when the low tariff was fixed. Our benevolent railways will carry for 7s 5d wool worth £25 16s, charging a rate of freight which the fanner could afford to pay when he got only £l2 4s for his hale.” It is mentioned that a revision has been promised. “The farmer and woolgrowcr have had to pay an additional 26 per cent., in freights as a result of war imposts, but their goods are still being carried at an enormous loss, judging by the statements of the General Manager of Railways on the subject of increased costs of material used on the railways. He announced in the 191S Railways Statement that assuming no further advance is made in the price of coal, the increased cost to the railways on locomotive coal for the year ending 31st March, 1919. would bp about £200,000, compared with pre-war times, the percentage increase being 62 per cent.” At that time the General Manager did not anticipate having to import coal at £4 to £6 per lon as an emergency measure, and the Review estimates the present added working costs, exclusive of increased labour charges, at £448,000.

1S90 1914 1920 £ s. (I. £ s. (1. £ p rl. Meal (ton i — 1 G (i 1 G 6 1 12 1 Hemp (ton) 1 G 0 0 14 G 0 17 fi Butter (Ion) 1 13 7 0 14 0 0 10 0 Choc.se (ton) 0 13 7 0 14 6 0 17 G Sheep (truck) 2 10 0 2 10 0 3 0 0 Wool (bale) 0 7 5 0 5 7 0 G 9