THE WANGANUI FERRY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XIII, Issue 1014, 15 April 1869, Page 2

THE WANGANUI FERRY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE. Dear Sir,— Are our Wanganui ferry charges regulated by Provincialism or by Local Self-Government ? I have heard that this piece of local taxation is left entirely to the management of our Bench of Magistrates, therefore if we look at how they manage it, we will have some idea of what we may expect when we get Local Self-Government. About four years ago a wire rope was fixed across the river ; . at that time the authorised charge for crossing horses and drays was the same as it is now, Gd for a horse .and Is for a dray, but our ferrymen were a little more generous than our magistrates. They refused to accept the full charge for crossing drays with firewood, as they said it wa3 impossible for the people on the left bank to compete with those on the right, if they had so much to pay for ferrying ; they therefore fixed the charge for crossing a two-horse dray loaded with firewood and returning the empty dray at 2s 6d (the authorised charge would ' have been 4s), and this charge of 2s 6d continued until April, 1868* when our worthy magistrates thought fit to’reduce the charge for crossing cattle from Is to 6d per head. When this reduction was made the ferrymen charged in full for crossing firewood, viz., 4s per load, or cent per cent on the value of the timber cut and stacked in the bush. When notice of this unreasonable charge was brought before our magistrates they could not see it, and as none of them had firewood to cross they had no means of knowing by experience, but they had the experience of knowing that the charge on cattle was too high, and of course reduced it to one-half. 1 have not heard whether the cattle and

sheep of J.P.’s are to be crossed free or not this season, but it appears that as trade and population increase, so. the ferry charges on those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, must also be increased , as I see by a. notice iu . the Evening Herald that one shilling extra is to be charged for a load projecting over the end or above the rail of the dray ; so that now if a man happens to take in on his dray a shilling's worth of straw, and bung out a shilling’s worth of sawn timber, he will be charged 2s extra for crossing. If this be Local Self-Government, Lord save us from our friends. The amount raised by this extortionate piece of one-sided local taxation is, first £125 rent, next the free passage of all General and Provincial Government officials, all military foot and horse, and all whom any of the J.P.’s between Wanganui and Taranaki may choose to give a free permit to. A host of natives crossed last week free, by a permit from Mr Booth, R.M., of Patea. lam certain that if all who have crossed free during the last twelve months had been paid at the same rate as the settlers, it would have come to not less than £SOO or £6OO. So that the actual amount, raised by the ferry tax is between £7OO and £BOO a year, the principal part of which comes from settlers on the left bank near the town. Now, Mr Editor, we need your advice. What are we to do 1 The Government has monopolised our river and levied an unreasonable tax on us, else we could cross our goods at one-third of present rates. Shall we form ourselves into a ferrying company, or liow are we to get clear of this nnjustiffiable piece of Local Self-Government taxation '? 1 am a settler on the left bank, who pays from £4O to £6O a year of ferry taxes. P. M W.