RAILWAY REFORM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1773, 15 November 1883, Page 3

RAILWAY REFORM.

TO THE KIMTOU. Sin,— Your contemporary, the Her Aid, of 2ud November, gives an excellent leader on this subject, and supports Mr Vaile's view* very .strongly. I know that Mr Vailc has spent u lot of money, a huge amount of time and Labour, in poisistently advocating his ideas on this subject in every channel Avhere he thought influence could be bi ought to bear on it. It is now pioved by the groat raihv.iy companies of Kngland that cheap faies aie to be the means of giving them piofits in the futuie, and it is also proved that the Ist and 2nd class passengers are diminishing l.ipidlv, and th.it far moie rapidly the 3rd class p.issengeis aie uici easing in'numbeis, aNo the 10 venue fiom th.it class. One-*ifth of theNoith Western Company's entire income came last half-year from the thud class traffic, more than onefifth of the (.Ti-e.it Westei n Company'.s income, and neaily one-fifth of the Midland Company's, and this, is the testimony of all important railway leports. This tells veiy plainly that cheap travelling i* to be the rule in the futuie. Then again, the postal parcel system affords cheap tiansifc for parcels. In New Zealand railways are <to> eminent piopeity, and theie can bo no sound leason why passengeis, jiarceK, and merchandise, &c, s'liould not bo earned at far cheaper rates th.m they aie at ijresent, and with a \eiv simple classificatiuii for rates. It is for the people to e\eit themselves, and speak out .is Mr V.nle has been doing, and tiy to holp linn m his exertions foi uur own good, and whicli appear to be beaiing fiuit, if we may judge fiom the fact thi't the picsent Piemicr and the new Ministci foi PuUlit- Woiks have seii.irntely intci viewed Mr V.iile within the past fortnight, and fully discussed the subject, and the new Ministei said he w ould give this big railway leform riuestion his most serious aonsideiation. — I am, &c, ,). NhWL\N'n. Ngaroto. l otll No\emlwr, 1883.

[fvclonmu;.] to thk rniroit ov rm: wu:iu\ nkwn. Sir,—Allow me to call the attention of your reader to the- follow my oxtiact from the London Weekly Times It w ill be seen that they pune coiiclusnely that people vill ti.uel if faies are low, and tli.it it is only tinough cheap faius that nailway piopnetors cm hope to secure :i profit. In a country wheie the i,ulways are all in private hands, it must be a woik of gieat difficulty to bung faics down to a \eiy low price, but heie the task is easy, and it is only the connneicial incapacity of the 1 ailway department and the ,ipathv of the public that pi events us eniovinij this gu-at boon. At piesont the niattei command*, bat little attention, but in a \ei\ slioit time cheap lailw-iy tiansit foi good-, .inrl passengei-. will be one of the gieat questions of the day. —l am, &c, ft.VMLKI, VAII-K. October 31, 1883.

I'KOM LONDON WIIKKM lIMIN. The London and Xoith-Western Railway is thoclnef of the gieat pas,engei hues in the kingdom. Jn the fiist half of the yeai 1882 it earned l,li)i),00S first-class passengers; in the tilst half of the pie-ent jenr it carried 1,1N1),1.H, so that thine was a fall of neaily 13,000 m the yeai. In the hist of these two penods it cained 1,%-1,212 second-class passengeis ; but in the last half-yeai it earned 1, 111>2,244 only. C<mcunently, however, the thud-class passeut?ers on this hue lose fioin 21,21 {,102 m the hist half year named to 22,347,872, so tliat the lowest class made up the loss in the two upper classes, and gave an increase of about a million passengeis in six months. A becond example may be found in a line .serving a very cliff eient distiict —the Lancashire and Yorkslme Railway. In the first half of la-t year that company carried »575,347 first-class passengeis (the reason-ticket holders being excluded fiom all these companions), but m the craicv ponding six months this year that number had fallen to 771,058, so that there w as the enormous deciease of over 100,000. Of second-class the numbers weie 1,301,838 in tne first half of the past yeai, and neaily 150,000 less in the hist half of this year ; while the thud class passenger traffic showed tho substantial insieasu of 312,000 in the .same peilod. Consideiing the long series of ad\ei.se seasons the country has had to bear, the equally prolonged unprofitableness, of general busiue-s, and the stiuggle tradei s ha\e in consequence begun with .some success t" male- against high railway charges, it is sufficiently niaivellous that tiarficieceipts should expand at all. That they ha\e done so is piobably due in the first place to the unmteruipted development of our impoit business, and in the second place to the wonderful expansion of the third class passenger tiafh'c. The one may be held to be on unfoitunate product of bad seasons, but the rise of the third-class leceipts to the first lank m railway income is due to the wise policy inaugurated in the fust instance by the Midland Company. Slowly, and not without consideiable leluctance in most instances, the manager of most companies ha\e since learned to cultivate this branch of theii business until exclusive companies as the Gieat Western or London and Bugliton begin to realise that their futuie piospeuty hangs by it. On some of the Noi thorn railways' hecond-class traffic is lapidly disappearing, but the decline in both that and hist-class tiaffic has been more than compensated for by the giowth of third. Onc-hfth of the Noith-Western Company's entire income came last half-year fiom thudclass traffic, more than one-fifth of the Great Western Company's income, and nearly one-fifth of the Midland Company's. The last-named has no second-class, and all hections of its business ex-cept minerals suffered during the six- months just ended by the competition of the new lines of the Great Noi'thein and Great Eastern Companies. The North Western Company does not state its figures, so as to admit of comparisons in detail, but the Great Western Company shows large decreases in both first and second-class receipts, which the gain in the third more than covers, and this is the testimony of all important railway reports. .Reasonable fares in short, and'comfortable carriages are all that any company requires to induce its third-class'passenger traffic to spring into great proportions. The masses wish to travel, and will travel to an extent as yet perhaps scarcely expected by the most saugume, if only they aio tieated with proper consideration. By setting fiee the third class traffic, new scoue will _be given for the extension of cheap travelling, companies will be able to lower fares, and to increase the facilities offered to the public for reaching pleasure resorts. When the same spirit of development passes from passengers to goods, when companies cease to extract from traders " all that the traffic will bear," and emulate each other in the cheap and rapid transit of produce, as large an expansion in many classes of goods traffic may occur as we have seen, or can expect to see, in that of passengers. The success of the parcel post may, and probably will, have some effect in tin ning the thoughts of managers and boards in this direction.

The statement of receipts and expenditute of the Piako Connty Council for the half-year ending 30th of September last, will be found in our advertisement columns. William Black, of Hamilton, baker, has iilcd a declaration of insolvency. The first meeting of creditors will be held in the District Courthouse, Hamilton, on Friday, the 23rd instant. Bats and Mice.— lf you wish to destroy them get a packet of Hiix'sMagic Vermin KiLttß in packets, 6d, 9d, and Is, to be obtained of alt storekeepers, or from T. B. Hut byeaflQiiPS *o art** »*»»]?•