The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1884 THE RAILWAYS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1255, 21 October 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1884 THE RAILWAYS.

The Atkinson Ministry were turned out of office on account of raising the grain tariff. That was the head and front of their offending. If, however, those who tamed them out of office expected to effect a reduction, they will find themselves very much mistaken. The result of the present session's legislation must of necessity be the raising instead of the lowering of the railway tariff. The reason the Atkinson Ministry raised the railway tariff was because at the lower rates they did not pay, and the reason they did not pay was because the traffic on them was not sufficient. Trains have to run whether they are empty or full, and it costs just the same to run an empty as a full one. The reason our railways do not pay is because they are too large for the population. We have spent about L 12,000,000 on railways, and the population is only about 500,000. Common sense ought to show anyone that the liability is too large in proportion to the population, and that it is impossible to make them pay without exacting extraordinary high rates. But if that has been the case in the past, what will it be in the future 7 The present session has taken over all the political jobbery of the colony in the shape of District Railways; it has decided on pushing ahead the North Island trunk line, the Otago i-entral Ini", and, most objectionable

ne of all, the East and West Coast from Christchurch to the West Coast) nd Nelson railway. Now, when these re added to the present railways in afew years, what hope can anyone entertain of seeing the freights lowered ? The new acquisitions are ff,r worse paying line* than the Government have hitherto made. The lines which have been made bv Government had some sort of an excuse for their construction, but the District Railways were made solely and purely by landowners to increase the value of their lands. They were made by speculators who expeetc 1 they could sell their lands by that meuus, and who cared not one straw whether they paid or not so long as they gained their own selfish ends. As an example of what District Railways are, we may point out the Waimea Plains railway. A rate of 3s 4d in the £ had to be struck on land in the vicinity of that line to enable the Company to pay working expenses. The traffic on it would hardly pay for the grease used on the carriage wheels. The other lines are more or less bad “ specs,” and when these are added to our present lines the rates will be made uniform throughout—that is, the lines which are paying at present will have to pay for these political jobs, and travellers in this district will have to pay extra high rates in order to make up the deficiency on the non-paying lines. To put it plain, Sir Julius Vogel and and Messrs Turnbull and Sutter, and other champions of the working men, have passed ameasure compelling us here to pay for railways built for increasing in value the properties of land-sharks in Otago and elsewhere. The West Coast railway is just as great a job as that of the District Railways and cannot pay, and we shall also have to pay for that. When all these railways are in full working order the people will find that instead of the tariff being lowered it will have to be raised, or else the deficiency will have to be paid out of the revenue. And who is to suffer for all this ? Is it the merchants who exact their 10 and 15 per cent, for liens on crops? No, certainly not, bat the poor unfortunate farmers who have to pay for the carriage of their wool and grain to the nearest port town, and the still more unfortunate working men whom the farmers cannot employ. We are not advocates for strong measures, but we think the people of this colony would be justified in rising en masse and never sloping until they drove Sir Julius Vogel out of the colony.