The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1917. INCREASED RAILWAY CHARGES.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1917. INCREASED RAILWAY CHARGES.

Under the plea that the whole of the war bonus granted last year, and the additional allowances granted this year to married employees on the railways are being charged to railway revenue, the public is, as usual, called upon to bear this extra burden, by way of increased railway fares and freights—another addition to the cost of living. It may be assumed that the public will not be overjoyed at having these extra charges placed on their shoulders at a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult- if not impossible —to malfe both ends meet. There will, we are sure, be 110 outcry against the payment of the bonus to the raihvaymen, who have, admittedly, grievances as to their treatment, so much so, that it is notorious the service has for some time past been seething with discontent. By imposing extra charges on the public to alleviate the lot of the railway employees is simply changing the pressure from one set of shoulders to another, only in this case the many suffer for the few instead of the few for the many. Looked at broadly from a practical point of view, it would seem that the Department is adopting the now well-established policy of the Government to travel along the line of least resistance, and thus be saved the trouble of so reorganising the railway service that the revenue will increase without additional charges, instead of being faced with the probability that in spite of the increases the revenue will fall. It has always been claimed that the railways were the people's, and that they were administered for the people, presumably in their best interests. The position now is that they are arbitrarily administered at a ;liuge expenditure, the chief aim being not ! to provide reasonable facilities for the | public, but to show a profit of three and a half per cent, on the cost of construction of the open railways. Passenger fares and goods rates are to be increased by ten per cent., but an exception is made in the case of certian articles of food. The special rate for the carriage of white pine timber lias been cancelled, and all other special timber rates abolished, but the ten per cent rise in freights does not ■apply to timber. This is a concession to a class—sawmiliers—who have formed a combine to bump up prices, a policy that has been carried out to such an extent that house building has. become almost except at ruination rates,

Although wheat lias been exempted l'rom the rise in freight, there is to be a new system of weighing, for, instead of there being allowed twelve naekn to the ton, the grain is to be charged on the basis of 2240 lbs to the tun. This new departure, together with the elimination of anomalies in the South Island traflie, consequent on competing with water carriage, are the only business-like proposals in the new scheme. The railways are now being run on monopoly principles, as if they were owned by a combine. It is all very well in normal times to make this asset of the State a dividend-earning machine, but when it comes to putting the screw on in a time of such stress as we are now passing through, it would seem that if the Government was consistent it would be content to cover the bare cost and raise revenue by some other means. The excuse put forward as to the necessity for making the railway revenue pay for the- bonus to the employees is decidedly a piece of special pleading. The matter is simply one of book-keeping, and as it is obvious that the bonus is a "war" time extra, it should come out of war taxes. The experience of the previous rise in railway fares and charges has certainly not justified a further step in the same direction. By cutting out special trains to sports meetings, shows, etc., and. by discontinuing excursion fares, the Department is already losing a large amount of revenue, and the new impositions will still further restrict the use pf the railways by the people, who would mostly prefer paving a trifle more by motor conveyance than put up with the vagaries of the railway service. Heavy charges always restrict business, and it will not be surprising to find that the Department's action will prove detrimental to the earning power of the service, though it may be a factor in enforcing economy on the people.