RAILWAY GOODS TARIFF.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1458, 5 November 1881, Page 2

RAILWAY GOODS T ARI FF.

Wn are indebted to a Avi-11-infouned correspondent for the following critio.)] lemaiks upon tlic railway goods taut) lately adopted. Our conopondent fcUte in oxiilanationth.it, he has been ''connected with the o.iuyinjr tr.ide of tin-* diitticf, fiom about the fust peiiod in the establishment of that trade," and, a-> a natuial consequence, he claims to .speak authoritatively on the subject, in its application to "Wuikuto. The Uuff, he >say>, is veiy neaily the same as that of tho old one The scale adopted for cauuiire of small nood-i, is a decided impiovemont, upon that pieviou-ly in foice. Clatv, E. which would seem to h.ivo spooiil lcfoipnoo to grain pioducc, our cone pondeut complains of, as b' j ing " f-if -it 1 fiom lijht. 1 ' The pioiiobal is to cury, at so rn.uiy bisr> to the ton, wheat, barley, and oats. To this scale a foot-note is appended " that if hags "\\eisrh moic than four bushels each they will be chained at rate and one quaiter." Our correspondent a.sks . " Why not charge piodnoo of this chaiacter by actual weight ?'' J3,i<rs cmtiiining loss than four bushels will be chained four bushels. A pioposal of thit kind is altogether wrong It juits iai'too much power in the hinds of railway station eleiks, and is otheiwiso ciUulated to cieite no end of tiouble. "Wo will,' 1 contin'ies our coriespondent in fmthei exjilanation, "look at it in this light It a man's trrain is good, and happens to wei#h uilh'r nioi u than four bushels to the bag, is it fan or leasonablc the mnnS merits should be tax' d by the additional height pioposed. That is holding out poor eiicoiuacjcmoiit tor any man stuvuig to develop the Litcut lesourcps of tlif countiy to the best advantage, and I have no doubt you will agree with mc m thinking it is altogether wrong in piinciplo. To charge the man who grows a good sample of grain a quarter moie foi freight than the man cultivating a light and inferior article, is, in effect, taxing industry in accordance with one of the more objectionable forms of the impost. Then again, in despatching oats and gram if, for convenience sake, m handling, you do not fill up the bags, you ore nevertheless to be charged the full rate as although they contained the statutory four bushels. That is a state of the case which lequirea amendment. Grain ousjht. most assuredly to be carried by weight."