VAILE'S STAGE SYSTEM OF RAIL WAY ADMINISTRATION.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 213, 23 November 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

VAILE'S STAGE SYSTEM OF RAIL WAY ADMINISTRATION.

The following paper, by the Ven. Archdeacon Willis, was read at a public meeting held in the Public Hall, Cambridge, on Monday, November Bth, to consider Vaile's Railway Scheme, the Mayor in the chair. It has since been revised by the writer and slightly amended. MY POSITION. Let me define my position here tonight. In standing on a public platform to advocate a great reform, which has no very close connection with the advancement of either religion or morals, it may seem to some that a clergyman is rather out of the conventional groove, and doubtless he is. I am, however, one of those who hold that every man has duties as a citizen which his special calling does not set him free from exercising, and I am here to-night to advocate a reform fraught (as I believe) with most momentous issues for the public good, the advantages of which I have been enabled to see, and which I think it my duty to make more widely known than they are at present. USE OF TERMS. In advocating in my paper to-night Mr Vaile's system as compared with the present system of railway administration, I shall, for the sake of brevity, speak of Mr Vaile's as the new system, and the present system as the old. In speaking of localities, I shall confine my remarks mainly to the Auckland section; although I wish it to be understood that what 1 advocate for Auckland I advocate also for the colony. I shall speak of the new system as if its adoption were already assured : I shall speak of what it will do when adopted rather than what it would do. For I myself have no doubt of its adoption some time ; only the sooner it is adopted the better for the country. THE STAGE PRINCIPLE. One of the leading principles of the neAV system is the substitution of stage charges for mileage charges. Let me try to explain shortly what this means. And, firstly, it does not mean what I have sometimes heard said, that " the further one goes the less one shall pay." There is, however, an element of truth in this descriptien. It is proportionately true. The further one goes the less one shall pay in proportion to the length of the journey. The stages are of different lengths and are variable from time to time as the population changes. The lengths depend upon nearness to the chief centres or cities. The stages nearest to the cities are shorter, and those furthest from the cities are longer. AUCKLAND-WAIKATO STAGES. Near to larger towns there are several short stages. Coming from Auckland towards Waikato there are four short stages of about seven miles each. These bring the traveller to Pukekohe, 31 miles. From Pukekohe there is a fifth stage, of about 50 miles, to Frankton. From there a sixth, of about 50 miles, to Te Ktiiti (which takes in Te Awamutu, etc.) ; or a sixth to Oxford (which takes in Morrinsvillc, etc.) ; or a sixth to Paeroa (which takes in Te Aroha, etc.) ; or, once more, a sixth to Cambridge. To Rotorua there are seven stages. If one desires to know what the fare will be to any of the places named or the intervening stations, he has only to multiply the number of stages, first-class by rid, or second class by 4d. As I shall explain presently, all tickets are alike and sold at the same price ; and at the beginning of each of these stages a ticket is collected. Thus one travels the first four stages, or about 30 miles, at similar mileage rates, but the fifth stage of 50 miles is travelled at one-seventh the rate paid in the first four stages.

GOVERNMENT FIGURES. There is no paper of more interest in connection with the new system than the table of figures supplied by the Government Accouutant, Mr Fife, for the information of the Parliamentary Committee in ISSG. This paper shews (1) the number of passengers who travelled in one year (the year previous to the inquiry)— ruuglily -100,000 persons ; (2) the amount of fares paid by them—roughly £40,000 ; and (3) the number of passengers who would have to travel under the new system to ensure a similar return in fares—roughly 800,000 persons. The table of figures goes carefully into details and has been published several times, aud it has just been published afresh as forming part of an " Open Letter to Members of the Legislature on the Railway Question," recently written by Mr Vaile. The writer has here supplemented the table with some extra columns, which make it even more interesting than it was. MARVELLOUSLY LOW FARES. One of the chief proposals of the new system is to reduce the passenger fares to what seems at first sight an absurdly low level. It is proposed, for example, to take a passenger from Cambridge, second class, to Auckland for 2s, or to any part of Waikato for 8d; the first-class fare to bo half as much again. People say, We should like this, but it could not possibly pay. But how does Mr Vailo fix his charges ? How did he obtain a basis on which to work ? He took the Government figures, similar to those in Mr Fife's table already referred to, for one year on the Auckland section, showing the number of passengers carried and the

amount they paid, and lie found that the average fare paid for all distances was 2s. He then argued, if I can arrange the fares so that the average shall he half that amount, namely Is, aud can get the people to travel twice as often, I shall get the same result. On this basis he built up his proposed charges, all of which are a reduction, and some a surprising reduction, upon the present charges. NOT TOO LOW. The sweeping reduction in fares has been made by some a special ground for condemning the scheme. But Mr Vaile has contended from the first that his proposals are on safe lines, and "that passengers can be carried on a ruihvay 30 (thirty) miles for one penny without loss." This statement led the late General Manager of the N.Z. Railways to accuse Mr Yaile of " great ignorance." However, Mr Vaile was subsequently shown to he in good company with his "ignorance," for an undoubted authority, the manager of the Railway Clearing House in London, gave publicly the same testimony, declaring that, under ordinary circumstances, the cost of carrying each passenger is one penny for every thirty miles; and that even in a halfempty train. That Mr Vaile's proposals are absolutely on safe lines has, moreover, been demonstrated in actual working already. In Hungary, for eight years past, passengers have been carried long distances for " a little over a fourth part of Mr "Vaile's fares." FARMERS AND FARES. I am speaking in a farming district, and I have a right to look how the question presents itself to farmers. One objection that one hears commonly raised by farmers is this : We do not want to run up and down the railways frequently: we have our work to do at home ! But would it not be a gain to Cambridge farmers as well as others to save twelve out of the fourteen shillings which they now pay for a second class fare to Auckland. If they did not wish to use this saving to travel any oftener they might uhe it towards their expenses in town, or towards sending members of their families for rest and change, so needful for health, and from which country folk are so much cut off by the heavy longdistance fares, EXCURSION DISCOMFORTS. It is not sufficient to say that the periodical excursions provide the opportunity for this. My experience is that excursions are always uncomfortable, and often fruitful sources of evil. They help one to a holiday under most unpleasant conditions of hurry, crowd, discomfort and danger. The discomforts prevent us benefiting by the change. For instance, we are all taken to Te Aroha or Rotorua in a herd together, and either we are debarred from using the baths, or are forced to use them under disgusting, not to say unhealthy, conditions. When we go to the hotels we find them so crowded that a large number of the excursionists can get nothing to eat, and those who get served are often served but badly. Under the new system we can choose our own time for taking our holiday, and with a prospect of profit the old system does not offer. FARMERS AND PRODUCE. But, again, the farmer says: The reduction I want is in freights, not in fares. No one realises the importance of low freights more than the projector of the new system. He, I believe, holds with many of us that farmers' produee ought to be carried for practically nothing. Such use of the railways would In time build up true settlement and build up the country, and so pay indirectly. But it is manifest it could not pay directly. For the more goods the railways were made to carry the heavier would be the cost, and how is that cost to be met without showing a los» ? There are these great differences between passenger and goods traffic, that while passengers handle themselves and dispose of themselves, goods have to be handled and stored at the beginning and at the end of the journey. GOODS TRAVEL ONLY ONCE. Again, an iucrease of goods traffic, even at a paying rate, cannot be expected of a like kind to what may be expected in passenger traffic. There is no prospect whatever of the same bag of flour or sugar being sent again and again up aud down the line for purposes of profit. SIMPLIJ'ICATION" OF RATES. But goods traffic is not forgotten. One of the changes contemplated under the new system in the matter of goods traffic is a wholesale simplification of rates. The classification at present is of such colossal proportions that I believe it would take an officer of the department half a lifetime to thoroughly master it As a matter of fact it is a common saying that no two officers of the department quote the same figures if they be separately asked to name the amount of freight chargeable on any consignment of an unusual nature. What the colony will save in printing and clerical work and other labour when this is done (as it must be done) can hardly be overestimated. COUNTRY STORKKKEPERS. Country storekeepers have frequently expressod the opinion that the proposed scheme would injure their trade and lead to all buyers going to the city for their goods—in other words, that they could not live. Mr Vaile has, I think, largely answered that objection by saying that the stores in Newmarket flourish, although Queen - street, Auckland, is

hardly three miles away. It is true that people now often use excursion trains to do shopping in Auckland. But, in my opinion, they only crave for and seize the opportunity for Auckland shopping because it is commonly so hard to obtain. Give people the option to go to Auckland for their shopping any day they choose at a cheap rate, aud possibly they may always be going, but practically they will never go. At any rate they will never go after the first six months. As a rule we long for most the things that are hardest to get. Besides, going to Auckland for one's stores does not really pay. One often brings back what one does not want, and cannot very conveniently exchange when 100 miles from town. Personally, I should be in favour of safeguarding the interests of country traders (1) by allowing passengers to carry only a very small portion of luggage free ; and ('2) by carrying traders' supplies at half rates for the first six months, which would be the only period during which loss might be experienced. WHENCE THE INCREASE. [ am of opinion that the increase of travelling will mainly come from the city end. The great majority of the city people never see the country proper, simply because they cannot afford it. They go on the sea for their excursion! because it is cheaper, although many are well aware that they would derive more advantage from the inland air—more also of the townspeople will live in tho country when the new system is in vogue. WHO r-AYS FOR THE RUNNING 1 But who are those who mainly pay the cost of running the trains at present ? The railways at present are mainly supported by the country people. The figures already referred to over the signature of the Government accountant tell us that three-fourths of the passengers' fares come from the pockets of those who live over ten miles from Auckland ; aud the people w(io pay these three-fourth* are but one-fpnrth of those who travel on the lines. 1 have no doubt that even more startling figures could b» presented with reference to goods traffic. ALL TICKETS ALIKB. I have already referred to the simplification of the ticket issue, which will be one of the not unimportant gains under the new system. Virtually all tickets will be alike. The price will be the same for all. People can buy them like postage stamp*, as many ai they desire and when it suits them. There need be no crush at the ticket office, no uncertainty as to the amount to be paid, and no anxiety about providing the right change. There will be no question as to whether or not one may transfer them, or whether the time be expired for their use. The stationmasters will not be driven to their wits ends on excursion days to issue (and perhaps to write out) tickets fast enough to prevent the trains being delayed. CROWDED TRAINS. Crowded trains will be the rule, but over - crowded trains the exception. When people can travel every day at the same rate there will not be the same pack oven on dhow and other special days that there ii under present circumstances, for some will start a day or two sooner and some will return a day or two later. COST OF WORKING. The coat of working the railways will be but slightly increased. The haulage will be heavier, but this will be, comparatively, a small matter. The change will call for no extra land, no more cutting*, or embankments, or bridges or tunnels, no more rails, no more stations or buildings. The sleepers, fences, gates, etc., will not decay any faster for the extra traffic. Virtually no more officials will be required to supervise the extra traffic. If more help is needed recruits can be drafted from the booking and other departmental offices, for the simplification of machinery will hava left many of those now employed with nothing to do. COST OK A TRIAL. There can be no great loss to the country by giving the scheme a trial. The Government accountant's figures in the table already referred to show that even if not one single fare be taken under the proposed low rates, the loss on the Auckland railways for one year cannot be more than £20,000. Is it not worth at least risking this to try an experiment fraught with so many possibilities ot gain, and having probabilities of gain attached to it which amount to little short of certainty ? THE TAXPATER SAKE. But even supposing it possible that there may be all this loss of revenue to the railways, we must remember that there can bo no loss to the country or the taxpayer. The taxpayer cannot lose anything by the trial. He will possibly have to pay in 0112 way what he has already saved in another. I suy this to show how little harm can eventuate under the very worst possible conditions, but I find it hard to conceive how one who has fairly considered the matter can be of opinion that any loss of any kind is in the least degree probable. IMMEDIATE (JAINS. But the supporters of the scheme are not satisfied with the probability of no loss ensuing. They believe that very great increase of revenue is all but certain. If two average tares are ttken under the new scheme, for one taken now, the scheme will pay its way, but if five are taken as Mr Voile believes will

he the case, and as many other competent financiers believe with him, the increase must be very great. FAKES TO HELP FREIGHTS. If this gam is probable or even possible we have here, at least a possibility, for meeting the demaud of the farmer* for reduced freights without laving a burden on public funds. Mr Vaile's proposals provide, I believe, for all the expected profit from fares to be spent in the reduction of freights. Some will of course say that this is but a poor prospect to hold out to farmers. I can only say that I wish all the other prospects of improving their position were as promising. |SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY. "One great object of the proposed scheme is to encourage settlement in the heart of the country. This can only be done satisfactorily by placing the settler who will go into the heart of the country in as nearly as possible as good a position as the settler near the seaport. The cost of fares and freights to the country settler is one of the great factors which keep back settlement. Give him, howover, the use of the railways at a nominal sum, and one great hindrance will be largely overcome. He will have a prospect of being able to find a market for his produce without having all the profit eaten up in transit. SUBURBAN FEARS. It has been objected to the new system that it will be unfair to the settler near the seaport to have this competition forced on him. He has probably paid a higher price for his land than his country compeer, and so is entitled to advantage over him. In reply, we may say that if it were possible, and if it were proposed to place the up-country man in al! respects in as good a position as the seaport man, there would be something in the objection. As a matter of fact, however, the new system will do nothing of the kind. The sea-port man will still have great advantage over the up country man. He is on the spot to watch the markets and utilise opportunities at a moment's notice. He has the great adYantaga of time in his favour. He can supply the market to-day, whereas the up-country man cannot do so at the earliest before to-morrow. His railway freight is probably nil, whereas the upcountry man has at least something to pay. He has still all the eocial and educational, and various other advantages of city surroundings, whereas the up-country man is cut off from them all. ISOLATED SETTLEIIS. A much more reasonable objection to the new system might come from those settlers who are at present unserved by any railway. Our sympathies ought to be much more with them, but it is not possible to do everything at once- They shall have their turn presently when the existing railways are the great success the new system will make them. Moreover, the principle of that system is, at least, no more unfair to them than was the original construction of the railways. The railways have all along helped some and not others. WHY TH$ RAILWAYS WERE MADE. But here also it is well for us to remember that the great object with which the railways were originally projected was to settle the country. For this purpose mainly all our millions of debt were incurred. Thirty years ago our seaport property-owners, as well as our isolated settlers, knew that there was si prospect of this competition and this advantage, or at least that this was contemplated by the statesmen of the colony. The matter should, therefore, come upon them with no great measure of surprise. But whether this be so or not, does anyone doubt for a moment that when the great change we speak of shall have taken place, and when the country produce poured into Auckland shall be 100 times what it is, the value of the seaport land will have risen proportionately in value? The townsman and the countryman will alike be gainers. CATERING FOR THE WORLD'S MARKET. But say some of the country folk, if there were all this increase in settlement and production the value of produce would go down, and where should we get our market. We produce already more than we can dispose of. A reasonable reply is this, if production were a hundred-fold greater, a better market would be found, it vi ould be found in the markets of the world if not in those of the colony. It has been already found for increased supply of butter, and can yet be found for every other commodity, INDUSTRIES MULTIPLIED. Then, again, we must remember that increased settlement means increased power of consumption. And this will be found not only in the number working on the land, but in the number that will bo supported by consequent increase of industries. More flour mills, cider mills, fruit evaporating factories, bone mills, fellniongerics, flax mills, woollen factories, etc., will spring up in all directions, and inland towns will grow apace. INDIRECT GAINS. And here I am ied to speak of the indirect gains which will accompany the new system. However large the direct profits the indirect will be far greater. How much richer the country will be owing to all the increase in produce and the consequent export gains ! How much greater the public revenue from customs duties levied on the increased population, both for imports and for exports. Sir Julius Vogcl's old prognostication when he projected the railways and the borrowing will at length be realized and the country " will go ahead by leaps and bounds." PROSPECTS ASSURED. The prospects of such lesults as I have been speaking of have at times been described as purely imaginary. Such a

charge might have had some point fifteen years ago when Mr Vaile first evolved his scheme and raised his voice to make it known. But it is now too late for it to have any real force. Much has been already preved. HUNGARY AND RUSSIA. We New Zealanders think ourselves progressive, but once and once again the old world has gone in advance of us in Hungary and in Russia, and has proved the contentions of our gifted railway reformer to be true. In Hungary there has been rapid progress every year since the start in 1889, and in Russia the progress for a shorter period has been singularly remarkable. TltH POPULATION QUESTION. One sometimes hears it said that the system is more suited to these oldercountries. And mainly for the reason that there is a larger population to work upon. Mr Vaile here comes to our aid wi;h some startling figures from Hungary. At the foot of page seven in his open letter already referred to he tells us that while the main trunk lines in the thick of popnlation gave a revenue increase of 63 per cent., the lines in the thinly populated districts gave a revenue increase of 110 per cent., or something like double that of the thickly populated districts. WHY SUITABLE HERE. But, however well suited the system may be to the old world, it seems to me to bo eminently more suited to Mew Zealand and other new countries. Especially is this so where, as here, the Government both owns the railways and owns the bulk of the land, and the one can be made to act with the other in the settlement of the country. If the land belonged mainly to private individuals it would be otherwise, for the cheap railway service would both mainly benefit private property, and would do so at the cost of the oolony. HELPING THE ASSETS BOARD. There is a further reason also why the new scheme is just now specially suitable to New Zealand Now that the Government are proceeding to cut up for settlement the various estates which belong to the Assets Board, it will help the sale of those estates. Such a popularising of the railways could not fail to help to swell the number of applicants for land, and the price at which it would sell. HOW TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL TRIAL. That the stage system will be adopted both in this colony and in all the other colonies sooner or later I have not the least doubt. There are, however, two things connected with adopting it here that I very much desire to see, and they are these : (1) That the trial in this colony shall be mainly at least on the lines sketched out by Mr Vaile ; and (2) that Mr Vaile himself shall 'be given the privilege of working out his own conception. ON VAILE'S LINES. The first of these that the trial in this colony shall be mainly on the lines sketched out by Mr Vaile is of the first importance, because for one thing there is always a tendency (which sometimes is of great value) in making great changes to experiment first with half measures. This has been already spoken of with regard to the reductions in longdistance fares, proposed by Mr Vaile. It has been sard reduce the present fares by half, and it will be a great relief to travellers, and will give an idea whether the larger reduction will pay. Nothing would more surely kill the scheme. The half measure would indeed relieve the travelling public to a certain extent, and for a time, but the people of the colony would have to pay for it by and by in the increase of taxes to make up a deficient exchequer ; for there would be a certain and immediate tremendous loss of railway revenue. People would not travel more, and the revenue would suffer by half. UNDER VAILE'S MANAGEMENT. The second thing I very much desire to see is that Mr Vaile himself shall be accorded the privilege of working out his own conception. This also is of the first importance, for it ia granted that a man who believes in his policy is more likely to make a success of it than a man who is driven to adopc it, simply by force of public opinion. If any of Mr Vaile's opponents should be given any leading position in superintending a trial, nothing would be easier than to ensure its failure, and nothing is more certain than that failure would be ensured. PROMPT ACTION. If we are minded to accord Mr Vaile this privilege there is no time to be lost. Mr Vaile was not a young man when he began this agitation 15 years ago, and tho' he is wonderfully evergreen and returns to the charge against his opponents with all his earlier freshness whensoever they essay to assault him or his position, time and Iris labours must be telling upon him and if we are to get all the benefit that he is able to give Us we must elect to have it soon. GOVERNMENT DIFFICULTIES. But Governments are shy of taking up the scheme unless they are sure that public opinion will support them. Public opinion also is slow at being formed. But indeed this is not altogether to be wondered at when one remembers that however safe the lines on which the new scheme is based the whole idea is thoroughly revolutionary. Under the circumstances 1 am not sure that our wisest course would not be t« ask the Government to refer the matter to the popular vote. VALUE OF DISCUSSION. But in any case we do well in the meantime to discuss the matter as fully as possible, so that a sound public opinion may be found. It is with this view that I offered to read a paper on the subject. I have endeavoured to put together as well us I can in the limited

time at my disposal the arguments in favour of the adoption of the scheme, and to answer such objections as I hare heard made and remember whilst writing, but I cannot hope that my arguments will be all convincing or that my answers to objections will silence all objectors. EXPOSING THE WEAK POINTS. I hope, however, for our mutual gain that all the weak points both in the scheme and in my advocacy of it will be laid bare before our meeting closes. Mr Vaile is kindly with us tonight, and I am especially glad of his presence so that he may tell us whether I have correctly represented him, and also because he is far better able to solve any questions that may be raised than I am. My treatment of many points has been more brief than I desire. Others I have had to leave unnoticed. My only reason for this course is a desire to keep my paper within reasonable limits. MR VAILE'S LABOURS. I think all must feel that the country owes Mr Vaile a debt of gratitude for the way in which he has kept before the public a proposal which, to say the least for it, is so full of possibilities for good to the people and the country generally. He has worked at it for fifteen years at enormous labouranduot at alittle expense jto himself. He has worked in spite of ridicule and opposition enough to have killed most ordinary men. He has worked without any prospective benefit to himself, except that which he is sure to share in common with every other colonist. He has had no axe to grind. He has had a calling all along winch has been sufficient to occupy all the time he could give to it, and which has enabled him to live without seeking railway or any other paid employ under Government. Indeed his business, not to say his health, must have suffered owing to the demands of this question. It is true his friends desire to sec him entrusted with the initiation of his scheme, but he refuses pay except such as shall enable him to meet his expenses, and he offers to resign his office after he has once set the machinery in motion. HOW TO HELP HIM. I The least that every man and woman in the community should do for such a disinterested public benefactor is to help him in every way in their power by attending his meetings, by discussing his proposals, by urging them on the attention of others, by memorialising members of Parliament, or the Legislature or the Government on every opportunity that offers. There is a petition to Parliament and there are letters to the members for the various districts at the present time in course of signature which ought to be largely signed. We are indebted to some of our Ngaruawahia fellow-settlers for setting this latest movement going, and if we believe in the principle they advocate—namely, the adoption of the stage system—we ought to append our signatures. Some have thought that these documents go too much into detail. That has not prevented me from signing them, for I agree with the principle asked for. For such, however, as prefer a document more freo from debatable matter a shorter letter to the Hon. Mr Cadman and Messrs Lang and Herries has been prepared, and is offered for signature at this meeting. In conclusion, perhaps Mr Vaile will forgive me for saying that I wish all who can would further help him with monetary contributing towards the travelling and other expenses which are continually falling upon him through the prosecution of this work. I thank you Mr Mayor and ladies and gentlemen, for so patiently listening to my paper. WHAT THE GOVERNMENT RAILWAY ACCOUNTANT PROVES WOULD BE THE FINANCIAL RESULT OF ADOPTING VAILE'S SYSTEM. The following is the table prepared by Mr Fife, the Government Railway Accountant, aud produced as evidence at the Parliamentary inquiry into Vaile's Stage System r'u 1886:

s •c li o *^ & i § ° "d • ESS o o ., S « H.2 C »■•: 9 o "111 °. e. c i- o 113 M •-. O O IMHC O Q CO © i-T of©**? CO rl *" r-l © CI 53 M CO © t7* 5 3 3*1 ! 5 ; 'a " « 3 O H Illl 2 O H" *1 irt O CO M 2> B 25 ji M^ 23 3 2< © »P is 09 *li' J T 1 'r 1 '.- ;s "*a> 2 « 0 i „ o J « f * >5 5 p j§ rt if 1 1 £ © •5 (2 5 '_' - ' *J 4-1 o o 9 "*5 rt ■gT J 5 1 - CO P 0Q o 5 6 5 565 TUc columns marked thus" have becu added by Mr Vnile.