RAILWAY REFORM:—THE SCATTERED POPULATION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1811, 14 February 1884, Page 2

RA IL WA Y REFORM: —THE SC ATTERED PO PUL A TION.

At the loqncst of Mr S. Vailc we ie-pubhsh tlio following lcttei fiom his pen. It has ahoiidy appeared in imi Auckland morning conteinpoiaiy and is to find a place in tlio columns of the Lyttelton Times : — Hi it, — The only argument ha\ ing t!ie least show of leason in it, th.it has .is yet been urged, why tlie system of railway management pioposed by me should not be adopted is tins ; that oui pupulation is .so scatteied, that a. \eryl.nge pioportion of it is quite out ot the influence of our 1 ail ways, and tli it- theicfoic it in uselo-iS to try to shift the pomilation as often at they do in other crumti ids, especially m Gieat Biitam. We '•hall see. Foi the s.iko of argument we will assume that the railways are nover Used by any inh ibit'iut of any of the follow - mg counties : Hokianga, Mangonui, Bay of Islands, Whangaiei, ltodney, Hosbon, Goiomindel, Thames, Tavaanga, Whakatane, K.iwhii, We->t Tanpo, East T..npo, Cook, Wan.) i, Haglan, W.iirarapa E ist, Westland, Kaikoina, Colhnguood, Lake, Fund, Stewarts Island, Chatham Islands. Tf this 1 eduction is notliboial cnougli to satisfy my opponents, I ,\m piop.ned to gi\e them another county or two in, and still piove that we have sufficient p >pulation left. The entne population of these 21 counties only amounts to 53,000, or less than 11 per cmt. (8t percent.) of the whole population of the colony. Of this 11 per cent, we inuat bear in mind the fact that many of them must of necessity visit the centies of population and trade to obtain supplier, etc. ; that neaily the whole of the Maons leside in these counties, that large numbers of them use the railways, and also that time are seveial miles of railway working b >th at the Bay of Islands and Whangarei. If we take these three items into account, we shall probably find that not more than 7 per cent. -of our population is removed fiom the influence of our railways. My opponents aie fond of quoting Cheat Britain against me, and they say that lailways there tap every town and village, and that they aio within icich of every inhabitant. The statement is contrary to fact. So far as England is concerned it is, no doubt, practic illy true, but in Ireland, and to a gi eater degree in Scotland, there are large tracts of country containing numerous small towns and villages over which, as yet, no i ail way has passed, and these tracts of country are far moie densely populated than are those poitiuns of our countiy out of the reach of lailways. In Gioat Jiuiain the mass of the population is concentrated in the laige towns, and a veiy gteat proportion of the railway traffic is suburban. Anj one at all acquainted with life in the old country will know that there are vast masses of people of both sexes who are c impelled to make daily use of the train' to take them to and from their various employments. The great bulk of these people are season ticket holders. In the English l ail way returns, as in those of New Zealand, season ticket holders are not counted. The numbers of passengeis named simply refeis to those who pay as they take their trips. Now a \ery small amount of reflection will show that the proportion of season ticket holdeis to the general travelling public is very much larger in Great Britain than it is in New Zealand. In the old country the paupers receiving parish relief and maintained in the workhouses alone amount to 4 per cent (four per cent.) of the of the whole population, and m addition there are the vast hordes outside who are in such low circumstances that they cannot affoid the luxury of travelling. In New Zealand we have not paupers, and everyone can .afford to travel. We thus 1 have thice things in the old countiy to set off against their denser population as compared with our own. The fact that there is still a portion of the population practically cut off from the railways, the much larger proportion of season ticketholder*, and the great poverty of the masses. Yet they shift their population eighteen times to our six times. The three items referred to above would account for vastly more than double the amount. I therefore feel that I am justified in saying that to be at all equal with Great Britain we ought to shift our population 24 (twenty-four) times a year. In my next letter I will give a much more sti iking proof that we have the population, .and that it i& the management alone that is to be blamed for the poor result obtained.

Messrs W J Hunter and Co. will sell at the Cambridge Yards on Thursday, the 21st inst., fat ewes, store and fat cattle (from Fen Court), dairy cows, &c. On Saturday, the 23rd, they will offer lor sale at the Cambridge tTorsu Yards, 40 useful horses of all kinds, potatoes, saddlery, harness, Etc. Messrs VV. J. Hunter and Co. will hold a Sheriffs sale of horses and implements at their sale yards at Cambridge, on Tuesday neii, at noon. Mr John Knox will sell at the Hamilton Auction Mart on Saturday bedsteads, bicycles, semi-grand pLino, fowls, fiuit, potatoes, &c. Messrs Clark and Gane have received instructions! to sell by auction on the 16th inst. at the lesidcncc of Mrs Edwards, Victoria-street, Cambridge, all her surplus furniture as per list in advertisement. The attention of flockraasters and others is directed to the advertisemont of Little's Sherp Did, The solo agent for "Auckland is Mr Alfred Buckland. The dates upon which second, meetings of householders will be held in the school ' districts of Harapepe, Pukerimu, Raglan, Ranglaottia, Ruapuke, and Te A^warautu, arc advertised in pother column, J* «t/'/'« t /' /' H,''i . , f? i( J o?b , xsiLj(i|fG3 macie, q|^ succjese