MR SAMUEL VAILE ON RAILWAY REFORM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1937, 4 December 1884, Page 2

MR SAMUEL VAILE ON RAILWAY REFORM.

Meeting at Tamahere. Mb Vaile, tbe well-known railway reformer, delivered a lecture on the management of our railways at the Tamahere Hotel on Monday evening last. Mr Vaile had been invited by the Tamahere Farmers' Club, under the auspices of which institution the lecture was delivered, to address them on the subject of railway reform, aud though the weather was anything but favourable, the attendance was all that could have been expected. The entire district for many miles around was thoroughly represented. There were about fifty settlers present. The chair was taken by Mr Rhodes, who, in introducing the lecturer, said those present were all awai c that they had for a considerable tinn* felt great dissatisfaction not only with the high fares and freights charged upon the railways, but also with the very extraordinary manner in which these fares and freights were inflicted. Indeed, to many this seemed an inextricable puzzle, and he did not believe that the railway authorities were sufficiently well up in the mysteries of the tariff arrangements to interpret them themselves. Mr Vaile had been good enough to come amongst them at considerable personal inconvenience and expense ; he had at great sacrifice devoted himself to the study of this important matter, and he was now there to show them how the defects of their railway management could be best remedied, both m the interests of those who used them, the districts through which they run, and those (the Government) who held ami managed them as a public trust. Mr Vaile would show them how it was possible that the settlers of Waikato con) I be brought as near to the Auoklnu-l market and the port as those people who lived within a few miles from Aucklund. and how at the same time the railway s would be made to pay better and be of infinitely greater public utility than they were at present. The experience of Waikato settlers at the present time was auj • thing but of a favourable character ; they grew a large amount of produce on their farms, which under favourable circumstances would' pay handsomely and encourage settlement, but after they paid wages, rates and taxes, and last of all thu ruinous and prohibitory railway freights, they wese painfully conscious that thei c was nothing left to the producer, the whole proceeds having been absorbed in expenses. It was therefore his pleasing duty to introduce to the meeting th ■ gentleman whom they had assembled t') hear. Mr Vaile on coming forward *vas received with applause. By way of illustrating his lecture he had arranged 01 the wall behind his chair several diagrams illustrating the comparative possessions of the various provinces and districts of the colony in respect to railways, the amounts spent on each and other statistical information of a very interesting character. One diagram contained an lllnstiation of the Anckland-Te Awamntu railway with the vaiious stopping places along the line, the present fares marked on one side, and the " reform " fares marked on the other. Mr Vaile said it was not his intention in coining before them that evening to deliver what was generally termed a "set" lecture on the matter of their railways. In the first place he found it utterly impossible to crowd into one lecture all that it was necessary to say on a subject of such vast and growing importance, and he feared that what he should say that evening would be somewhat disconnected. It would take at least four evenings to place the whole matter fairly and fully before them. Buthewouldendeivoui to sketch as briefly as he could the present position of our railways, te point out to them the vast importance oi regulating our railway transit cliaiges and means of charging, so that they might conduce to the prosperity of the inhabitants and settlers of the country as well as those in and about the town. He would endeavour, as shortly as possib'e, to show them how the raihvav transit charges should be arranged that they might be made a means of developing the trade and commercs of the country generally. He thought that the great object of railway management should be this ! To place the whole of the inhabitants oi the country as nearly as possible on an equal footing with those of the town. He was entirely opposed to differential rating. He believed that, as the railways were the common property of the country they should be used as much as possible for the general benefit of the country as a whole, and not for the lenefit of a particular section or community. They must set their faces definitely and at once against this system. He felt that this was about the first step towards bringing about any really practical reform in the administering of the afTairs of their railways. But they must bear this in mind, that so long as they merely left it to him to write and talk about this matter, they could never expect that any practical advantage would be derived. He therefore trusted that by the meetings, the first ol a series of which was then being held, they would be able to arrive at some practical and unanimous issue by which pressure would be brought to bear on th 4 Government to compel them to entertain something in the way of reform. He would not say that his ideas of reform were the right ones, or that they could not be improved upon, but they were the best that he could devise, and as such he laid them before the public. He thought he would be able to show them that his scheme would work well ; and it was a very peculiar fact that no railway expert of any standing had attempted to dispute his contention They could not dispute his position, and it would be absurd for them to say that it was not worth their attention when a movement has attained such an importance that it has been made the subject of innumerable leading articles in the various leading journals of the colony ; when it has been discussed at public meetings, and occupied a prominent place in the Press continuously for nearly tvi o years, it was absurd for the railway authorities and the Government to say that it was unworthy their attention. At any rate, he felt convinced that if it were possible for them to find fault they would with every readiness do so ; and that was simply the reason why they did not find fault with his facts and figures. He would now give them some j idea of the present position of the rail- | ways of the country, having prepared some indisputable evidence in respect thereto. The total mileage of railways open in the whole of the colony was 1396 miles. Of this number 928 miles had been constructed in the South Island, at a cost of £8,289,000, as against 468 miles in the North Islaud, at a cost of £3,874,000. This represented a total expenditure on constructed railways of £12,163,000. This was according to one statement. According to another statement the amount was greater. They would, however, observe that £4,415,000 had been expended in the South Island more than in the North Island. The mileage open during the year 1883 B*, according to one statement, was 46 miles ; according to another, 38 ; and according to another, 39 miles 5i chains. In 1881 we had 1277 miles open, costing £8,460,210, which paid a return of £3 8s 3d per cent. In 1882 we bad 1333 miles, costing £10,974,000, which paid interest at the rate of £3 7s 3d per cent. In 1883, 1373 miles, costing £11,863,575, returning interest at the rate of £3 3s 2d per cent. This year we have 1396 miles, costing, according to one table, approximately, £12,163,000 , and according to another table, £12,795,125. Last year, without any such qualification as " approximate," five different statements of cost were given, varying in amount to the trifling sum of, £1,639,576. Mr Vaile then referred at some length to a diagram showing the comparative railway possessions of the various provincial districts, the lines of Canterbury and Otago being represented by a column of 4ft 6in in length, tbpa^f Auik- '

land being represented by 9in only. Not only were Canterbury and Otago far in advance of the other pirts of New Zealand, but these provinces monopolised nearly all the railways .of the South Island, Marlborouuh Nelson and Westland being possessed of infinitely little railway communication. When they compared Auckland Mith Canterbury he was not surprised that members of Parliament, and ex-members of both the upper and lower Houses shouled blush as red as the diagrams before them. As to the contentions of the various provincial districts to the consolidated revenue of the colony very little was known. The Government lefuaed to supply any satisfactory information on this point, and why this should be ao they were doubtless fully aware. Another diagram represented the railway construction of the different years in both Islands. According to this, in no one year has the North in any way approached that of the ..South. The railways throughout the colony last year had paid £2 10a 2d per cent interest, which was a great falling off on the returns of the previous year which had paid £3 3s 2d per cent. Mr Vaile then quoted figures showing the rates of interest earned during the last thres years by the respective railways, Westport had the only piece of line in the South Island which had shown anything like an improvement since 1882. The fall in the returns of the Southern railways had since that year been steady and continous throughout, showing worse and worse results every year, and indicating anything bnt a good investment for money. On the other hand the Northern railways had maintained their position, and had proved themselves sounder investments than those of the Soxith. Railways were like every other commercial institution, the more miles of line that were open for traffic, the better the thing paid. In everything we go into we expect it to pay in proportion to the noney we expend upon it. If the loss on our railways went on increasing in the same proportion in the next four years as the four years past, additional taxation to the extent of 2J millions would be required to meet the deficiency for the year ISBB. It either meant additional taxation or repudiation. He did not believe that that loss would have arisen had the expenditure of the borrowed money been more evenly distributed. With equal expenditure with the South the North would have had through com munication, all its present fragmentary branches would have been portions of a system paying a good and steady percentage on the cost of construction, and the various centres of population such as Gisborne, Napier, Taianaki, and Wellington, would have been connected with Auckland. He thought they lv.d every right to ask their representatives wh) they allowed all this money to be spent in the South without ever entering their protest iv Pailiament It was no use foi them to plead ignorance, because they knew all about it, the facts being altogether too flagrant and btaitling to escape their notice. All the papers he had written had been posted to each individual member ot Parliament. During the last three years the country had expended £3,50(5,791, and for this enormous evpendituic we have only obtained 119 miles of new railway. Some of them might doubt the ctedibility of such a statement, but it was an unpleasant f.ict all the same. There was no doubt that a large portion of that amount had gone in repairing blunders made on constructed lines. This showed very bad management at the outset. During the past year the expense of maintaining the permanent way in order was 23 per ceut on the gioss revenue. They would gather from what lie had stated what position the railways of the colony are now in. But perhaps about the most important aspect of this very important question was iv respect to the TARIFF CUAIIUEh. As to the tariff he had said so much upon this subject in one form or another that if he had succeeded in nothing else he was happy to say he had at least exposed its vagaries and the great necessity for reform. He did not think he could do better than dis nws it in the few words by which he had described it on a former occasion. Its commercial stupidity was only equalled by its grot's dishonesty ; that as a commercial document aiming at successful financial results it was simply beneath contempt. How it was possible for the present tariff regulations to be worse than they are at present he was at a lo3s to understand. Some time ago he had drawn the attention of the Chamber of Commerce to some of these absurd regulations, and proposed a series of resolutions in connection therewith. The chamber could hardly believe what he told them, tne facts were so startling. The Govern maut had been communicated with ou the matter, and the chamber asked that Mr A. Y. Macdonald, the District Triffic Manager, should be allowed to attend one of their meetings, and explain the vagaries of the ot the system, but the Government would not en tm tain the proposal, and sent a reply to the effect that it was impossible to frame a tanrl that people could read and understand. Mr Vaile then read a number of extracts from the tariff regulations which created considerable mirth. It was impossible foi anybody but the person who compiled these regulations to understand them. As to the advantages ot cheap transit there could be no doubt. Cheap transit had made all the great centres /)f the world. London owed its position before the advent of railways to its commanding position on the Thames. In order to secure the advantages of cheap transit they ought cheerfully to submit to increased taxation. They must in the first place recognise the piinciple that railways were but roads— the great highways of a country, and that as every individual in the State contributes to their support in propoition to his wealth, soe\ery individual, the poorest as well as the richest, was entitled to have the beneficial use of them placed within his reach. The difference between a railway and a macadamised road was that while on the latter the people using it drove their own buggies and carts, the haulage on the foi mer was done by the Government. The Government were therefore entitled to charge the haulage, and to charge a fair profit in addition, and if this were done, and the interest on the cost of construction left out of the question, the lines would pay much better than they did. He poiuted out the great importance of cheap transit to commerce, and said there was no valid reason why steamers should go to Sydney in ballast, or little better, while the Waikato was capable of producing so many things which would find a market in Australia. He instanced roots. Under the present system it was not profitable to send stiaw or chaff to Auckland. The freight | charges amounted to as much as was obtained for these articles in the mai ket It actually paid a farmer in Waikato better to burn his straw than to send it to Auckland. The social aspect of the , question ought not to be pver-looked. The influeuce of cheap transit upon the social life of the people could not fairly be described in the short time at his disposal. It was in itself the subject for a complete lecture. Nearly all the evils from which they suffered in the great centres of population owed their origin to the present system of railway transit. Some of the great minds of the day were trying to demonstrate that all the social evil and misery arose out of the present system of land tenure. He did not believe this. Great fortunes had not been made out of the land, bnt by "commerce, and except city and suburban lots, land was not regarded as a particularly paying investment. The best remedy for the evils complained of was to spread the people over the country which could only be done by the institution of cheap modes of transit, both for goods and people. The question ,to be considered was, How are we to establish this system' of cheap transit, and at the 'fctifo tim«<t#«kst'<nir Wiilways pay ,? >J^

Vaile then explained at Buni« length a large diagram, illustrating his scheme of cheap fires and ticket stations. Under this it was proposed to regulate the number and relative distance of these ticket citations according to tho population of the towns. Thus the fare from Auckland to Penrose, the first ticket station, would be 6.1 for first class and 4d for second ; to Manurewa, Is aivi Sii ; to Drury, -Is 6d and Is ; to Pukekohe, 2s and Is 4d ; to Hamilton, 2s 6d and Is 8d ; and to Te Awamutu, 3s aifd 2s. From this it would be seen that while it is possible fcr anyone to come all the way from Pukekohe to Hamilton for 6d, nil passengs-ia booking from either of those places to any intermediate station would have to pay the same amount, so that while none would have to pay so much as at prosunt, the long distance traveller secured superior advantages. But before touching the passenger fares, he would reduce the chaiges on the transit of goods. No doubt it seemed somewhat strange to the public, that while lie had snid so much about the passenger traffic he should have uttered so little in regard to the carnage of goods. But the fact of the matter was that in older to give the subject due prominence he found that he must argue for the dollar stand-point. He must demonstrate how and to what extent the financial aspect of the case would be affected. No statistics Jiad been published and no information was procurable upon which a just estimate of ! the probable effect of the change upon the gooc's traffic could be formed. If sufficient inducements were offered, people who now used the line once would use it half a dozen times, whereas goods only required to be carried once. If re\ enue was to be a consideration they must cle-irly approach this question of the goods taiiff with caution. Concern ni£ the passenger traffic the amount received last year for "coaching " ie passenger fares, horses, carriages, dogs, and parcels, was £371, .V21. Now taking off £80,000 for season tickets, horses dogs, and carriages it left £291,521, and were this sum divided by the number of tickets issued —3,272,644— it would be seen that the average fare paid by each passenger was only Is 9^l. Now, when he got this figure, he siw clearly that if he could devise a plan by which the average tare would not fall below or.c shilling and at the same time make people travel two or three times for every time they do now, such scheme would pay us well. Only those who were actually compelled to do 30 used the i ail ways at the present time, but if they could be used for the puipose of ordinary business and pleasure he believed the traffic would be increased sevenfold. From this it would be gathered that a large increase in the revenue would be the lesult, In his calculations he had been fully borne out by the highest authorities on tailway management in Auckland. He referred to Messis Moody, Stodart and Edmonds, who from their long experience were eminently well qualified to deal with the subject. Mr Edmonds had written several letters to the papers against his (Mr Vaile's) system, but he was subsequently converted and in a manly way took the other side. It was tho opinion of these gentlemen that his boheme would add a. least £200,00) to the revenue, a calculation based on the assumption thittlnee would travel for every one that travels now, and that the average faie would not fall below one shilling. If the traffic were only doubled the gain would be about £47,000. Of course, he was met with the argument that they had not the people to carry. But he denied this, and his opinion was backed up by those gentlemen whose names he had quoted. He instanced the case of the Metropolitan railway in London to show that it created its own traffic. They might come much nearer home for an illustration. In Auckland the trams were cairying about 0000 people per week, and the omnibuses weie running just as usual. Now, if anyone went into a tram car, he would see at once that the travellers belonged to a special class, which had never u&ed the 'bussots, and so he contended cheap fare* would induceaverylargenumberof people to travel, who, under present conditions, scarcely even patronised the railway He was thoroughly convinced that the average fare would not sink below one shilling. He instituted comparisons between the English lines and those ot this colony, pointing out that the enormous cost of budding the former to some extent counterbalanced the smaller traffic on the latter. In Great Britain and Ireland the railways were doing a trade represented by shifting the population nineteen time* in the couise of a year. In New Zealand the population" was only shifted six times a year. As he piopnsed to reduce the fares below those ruling in England In believed the population here would bf shifted thirty timps, and probably more Because, while the population here was not so dense, neither was there sucl great poverty as at Home, where 4 pel cent, of the population were actually paupers, and 10 per cent, more in little better condition, and not able to indulge in railway travelling. DIFFERENTIAL RATING. Differential rating, he would explain al the outset, simply meant taking tin utmost possible advantage of any cus turner that might present himself. If lv could be induced to give 50s per ton foi freight the department would tike it; if h< would not give that figure they woulc try for 435., 405., 305., or anything the) could get. It meant making large con cessions to the rich and poweiful, an< imposing heavy burdens on the poor and weak. It meant charging one puce to day and another to morrow, to one mar one price and to another a different one, and all for the same service rendered It moant'ehargiut; one pi ice in one district, and another in a different one, also for the same service rendered. It meant, in short, giving to the railway managers the power to ciush any particular industry, any town, or any district at their will. It meant also giving to them the power to raise the value of property in one district and depress it in another just as they choose. In proof of the latter contention he pointed that the great railway proprietors in America had made the bulk of their fortunes by such piactices, first depressing the value of property, then buying it up, and then by the application of differental rating raising the value, and disposing of it at an enormous iucrease in price. Ihe system was in vogue in England, and though the Government had passed no less than 4000 acts to regulate the traffic the railways set them at defiance. It was attempted to introduce this system into New Zealand, bufc the people should set their faces against it. Every man was a shareholder in the railways and should be put on an equal footing in respect of the advantages conferred. In England the railway companies made a charge and the people had to pay. There was of course a so-called remedy provided in the railway commissioners' court, and from this there was no appeal, but it did not meet the wants of the case. The tariff charges were not placed within the reach of the public. Now Mr Maxwell wanted to introduce this system here, but he hoped success would not attend his efforts. CATTLE TRAIN. They would remember that a short time ago a number of settlers met Mr Hudson at Ohanpo and applied to have a cattle train put on once a week between Waikato and Auckland. They were told the application could not be entertained as the train would cost £2,000 per annum. He bad gone carefully into the matter, and could not make the cost exceed £600. Against this the train would earn £2,717, being at'the rate' of £2 12s 3d per truck for 20 trucks per week. He' saw no reason therefore , why the Waikato people should be without a cattle train. , ' , r RAILWAY BOARDS, &C. It had been proposed that instead of the management of the railways remaining with thejGoverhment; it should be pfeced, |« ; haiids, oi n^n-^oUtjcal

boards. He was not prepared to go into this subject just then, but when it cama forward for discussion lie hoped Ihe people would give it their earnest consideration. Personally he thought these board? should be elective. In conclusion Jib hoped he had demonstrated to them that his scheme was a feasible one. He had said so many harsh things against the management, and had found so nmch fault with other men's work; that he felt bound to attempt to build up something of his own. His system, he believed, besides giving largely increased facilities to the public to travel, and opening up the country, would result in a greatly increased railway rcveuue. He was not vain enough to suppose that it was perfect, and he doubted not that it could be largely improved upon, but it was the outcome of an horte3t attempt to grapple with the question. He would be happy to answer any questions which those present might see fit to put to him. Mr Vaile resumed his seat amid much applause. Mr Barugh said he had never before understood Mr Vaile's views so well. Though he had previously heard them he did not quite understand them. It was a new departure in railway management, as new almost in fact as the penny postage when first introduced. The excursion trams in England, which were said to pay better than any other class of traffic, were an illustration of the soundness of Mr Vaile's theory. In England they got three times as much from the cheap trains as they do from the ordinary trains. He was now a complete convert to Mr Vaile's) ideas, ami he trusted that before long they would see them carried into effect. Capt. Steele said he had been a convert for some time to Mr Vaile's theory. It wa3 iinpoitant in the interests of VVaikato that some reform should immediately be made. His impression was that with the way in which railways were at present conducted the less railways they had the better. They simply meant he ivy taxation and no real advantage. As a settler he entered his earliest protest against the Taranaki line unless assured of better and more competent management. The rolling stock and general management was of the worst possible character. He looked upon railways as public property, and not as a mere colonial speculation. With the present tariff rates how did the (Toverument expect to get the land in the King country settled ? Wad it likely that people were going to transport themselves into a wilderness where the railway tariff was piohibitory, when they could get as good land and cheaper facilities of 'communication nearer Auckland. The tiling was monstrous. Even Waikoto settlers were gradually gravitating towards Auckland and leaving the counti y, as by ths present tariff they could not make farming pay. They might talk about commercial depression, but was it not the railways that were causing all this depression and ruining the country ? People were clearing out to Americi, New South Wales, and other places where they were better ti eated. To Mr Vaile wasduethethanksof the community for the great energy in this matter, and the able manner in which ho had laid his views before them. In reply to Mr Birugh, Mr Vaile stated that in America grain was carred 1000 miles for 4Vd per bushel. The rates on the New South Wales railways, had been greatly reduced, and though far below New Zealand rates, they paid better. Mr Vaile then quoted the comparative figures of both countries in respect to ceitain classes of goods. The lates in New Zealand were considerably more than double those of New South Wales. Captain Sfeele then referred at some length to the effect of the proposed scheme of low rates on settlement in Waikato. Settlement would make rapid .strides in every direction, and industries which under present circumstances could not be contemplated, would spi ing into existence and flourish. The matter of bringing pressure to bear upon the Government, and giving thp movement a practical form was then discussed, the remaiks genei ally indicating great, warmth of feeling on the subject. It was suggested that a reform league should be immediately started with branches all over the colony, and that a gigantic petition should be sent to Parliament. A heaity vote of thanks to Mr Vaile concluded the meeting.