THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 938, 27 June 1878, Page 2

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1878.

It is to be hoped Messrs Conyers and Lawson, during their visit of Railway Inspection in this part of the colony, will thoroughly reorganise the regulations in force in working the Auckland Railways so as to bring the character of the management more nearly to what it would be if carried on by a company, with the sole object of working the line to the best possible profit, instead of as now, where regulations restrictive of, and in some cases prohibitive ol commerce are imposed, and that, too, for no possible apparent reason. Improvements have taken place in the management since the Passmore regime passed away, but there is still much room for ammendment. We have still the remains of that absurd system of charges, which in the past has so greatly interfered with the general use of the railway and its consequent profit to the colony. It is quite a mistake to suppose that the two chief objects in the management of a railway — how to secure the largest amount of revenue with the least possible expenditure, and how to make the line as little costly, aud as convenient as possible to the public who use it — are antagonistic to each other. There are two ways to effect the first object, either by reducing the cost of management or by increasing the traffic. Whether there is room for operating in the first particular we cannot say, but undoubtedly there is in the latter. In the case of the Waikato and Auckland line, a railway running from a seaport, not to another great centre of population, but into and through a country district, it is evident that the carriage of country produce must form to a very great extent the chief source of traffic. The rates on the line for the freight of produce are simply prohibitive in almost all classes. Take for instance potatoes. Is it possible that a Waikato farmer can compete with others growers if his goods are handicapped at the rate of 17s per ton for freight alone to a market. Is is likely that Waikato settlers will largely use bonedust and other artificial manures when the cost of carriage of such is from | 15 (o 20 per cent on the cost of the | goods. These high charges prevent I the increase and extension of railway traffic. They render its advantages nugatory, where by a more liberal tariff the trade of the line might be ex.tende 1 ten-fold. Do those who fix our railway tariffs mean to say that the extra cost of conveyance of twenty tons where

one is now carried would be attended with twenty, times the expenditure. Tliey know well that ib would not. • probably that it would not more than doublo it wliile at half rates it wauld incre-ise the receipts ten ("old. This is the light to look at the matter m, just as a private firm determined to push business would do, and until our railway couiinia " uieiv-J do this, neither the public iv its capacity of customer will reap the full convenience, nor ia its capacity as owugv reap the sonic revenue from its railways as it ought to do, and would do under a more liberal aud bnsiness-likesystem. It is a shortsighted policy to kill tlie goose for the sake of the golden eorg, bub this is exactly what tbose who have had tlie management of our lailvvays have been endeavoring to do. The highesb profits will not be obtained under the highesb possible cliarges for passengers and goods that can be imposed. If the railways are to ftain the command of the general traffic they ninsb do so, not by fixing their tariffs afc such rates that persons will only use fche line when they cannot avoid doing so, but by inducing them to go out of their way to use the line m preference fco any other means'" of transit, and especially so m the case of goods traffic. A passage from a report on the Indian railways strikes us as being most apropos to tliis niatter. The writer, Mr J. Danvers, the Government Director of the Indian railway companies says : — " I have no hesitation iv saying that t.he lecent development which has occurred m the merchandise traffic is due, m a great measure to the more liberal scale of charges which has been adopted. Other cau&PS, especially the - famine, have contributed to produce this effect, but the chief oue is the reduction m the rates for carriage. The policy of moderately low rates for the staples of fche country, may, I am glad to say, now be vegerded as one whicn has Imen generally accepted by the companies, and its encouraging results will probably lead to its further extension. The greater the traffic, the more the ratss may, , within moderation, be safely lowered ; for by good manage, inenfc, wibh a large traffic, full train loads may be secured, and waste of carrying power will be avoided. The railway can then afford to carry at cheaper rates. Thus one re-acts upon fche other. Low rates produce traffic, ancl a large traffic proportionately reduces the workiug expenses and increases profits. The two leading companies, the East Indian and the Great Indian Peninsula, have acknowledged m their reports to fche shareholders the success of their policy m lowering rates."