Farmers Might Face Higher Rail Freights

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 784, 3 October 1929, Page 10

Farmers Might Face Higher Rail Freights

CONCESSIONS UNAPPRECIATED

i CANDID OFFICIAL REMINDER

HE SENS Parliamentary Reporter I PARLIAMENT BLDG., Wed.

The farming community j, bluntly reminded by Mr. H. H. Sterling. General Manager of Railways, that it is not giving the Railway Department a just return for freight concessions upon farm products. In his annual report presented to Parliament today, Mr. Sterling indicates that these un- t I just conditions cannot be permanent. and that if more practical appreciation is not shown by the farmers, an inevitable reaction will follow. On account of the facts that livestock carriage is largely seasonal, and that special wagons are required for this work, the difficulties of the department are unrecognisably acute in certain peak periods and the turnover of the rolling stock has to be vertrapid to cope with the traffic. “The railways also afford direct advantages to the farming community,"• Mr. Sterling says, "by concessions that have been frequently stated t.nd are well known, such as low rates for agricultural lime and artificial man. ures, etc., and these concessions represent a definite investment by the community at large in the ventures of the farming industry. “What is the community entitled to expect from the farmers in return’ Surely no less than that the farmers will, by making use of the railways, give the community an opportunity of recouping itself at least in some measure for its outlav on their behalf. THE NARROW VIEW “It is regrettable indeed that we find on some occasions farmers' organisations taking an all-too-narrow view of their obligation in this regard. "The searchlight of public criticism is being directed on the financial policy of the railways. Its financial operations must come under review, and if the community does not obtain the return from its investment? on behalf of the rural community to which it is morally entitled, action will be compelled by the interests of public finance, which cannot indefinitely sustain a growth in the financial burden which the railways may be on the taxpayer. “We have found that the greater proportion of the farming community appreciates the position and accords us their loyal support. I would plead with the remainder to consider the position well, as they are in danger of doing an injury not only to themselves, but to the farming community as a whole.”