ROADS V RAILWAYS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2121, 16 October 1885, Page 2

ROADS V RAILWAYS.

The New Zealand Times of Wednesday last contains an article on the question whether carriers are able to compete with railways in New Zealand, which contains arguments of a most fallacious nature. Referring to the fact that the merchants of Invercargill are now having their goods carted from the Bluff, our contemporary makes a calculation that a horse and cart could not do iiioie>|kan go there and back between the' tSvo places in one day, that the load could not be expected to be heavier than oue ton, and that the earnings of the carrier for the day would, therefore, be only six shillings, We do not know whether the Times is of opinion that the people, of Invercargill are only importers or exporters, It certainly does not give them credit for being both. So far aswe know, they live very much like other people in the colony, They produce wool, grain, and a variety of other articles for export, and in exchange for them they get such articles for comsumptiou as they cannot produce themselves;: The inference theretore is that the carriers have a load each way, which exactly doubles the day's earnings calculated upon by the Times. The calculation is, however, thoroughly erroneous in another respect, If they are blessed with a grain of common sense the good people of Invercargill will certainly keep their carts for town work, and put on waggons for the country work, One driver would thus be able to manage a team of horses, and the waggon would be able to carry loads of, at the least, oae ton to the horse. With regard to the agitation of the Wairarapacarriers, the same authorities tells us in the same breath that there appears to have been some reason for it, but that the boast that they could carry wool to Wellington in opposition to the Railway was a pure pioce of braggadocio, because the road would require to have at least £2,000 spent on it to make it fit for traffic, We should like to know on what authority that statement was made. So far as we know the road is in a fair state of repair, and the bridges are sound. At any rate, they bear mobs of cattle, which are a good deal heavier than a waggon loaded with wool, Apart from this, the Wairarapa West County Council was prepared to do its share of repairing the road. The subject was brought upat a recentraeefcing, and only allowed to stand over because it was believed that the Government would make the reduction asked foi. It will be seen that the one statement is as incorrect and misleading as the other, and that both are based on entirely erroneous premises,