RAILWAY REFORM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1942, 16 December 1884, Page 2

RAILWAY REFORM.

TO THE KDITOK. Srß,— The concluding portion of your leader | >f the 4th requires some notice from me. The addresse* to which the article in quesI turn refers were not given on the pcirticnlar system of railway management invented by myself, but on "railway reform." It was therefore incumbent on me to show the necessity that existed for reform. As to the attitude I have assumed with reference to the railway expenditure, all I have done is to point out clearly and distinctly how md whei c the money has been expended, and this the diagrams objected to by Mr Whyte explained far more effectually than any words of mine could do. What I consider is the greatest injustice inflicted under the present sybtem is the imposition of "differential rates" in favour of the strong and wealthy centres, and against the poorer and weaker ones. At present the differential rating is heavily against the North Island. The excuse made for this is the assertion that the North Island railways do not jmy as high a rate of interest as the South Island ones do ; it is therefore a principle pait of my work to show why the North Island pays a leaner rate, and to prove that in reality they occupy the best position as investments, and I cannot do this without showing the expenditure in the different provincial districts. As regards Auckland province the case is particularly hard and unjust, as from our large contribution to the consolidated fund we already pay somewhere between a fourth and a third of the entire loss on the railways of the colony, while we have had considerably Ics than a ninth of the expenditure. Under these circumstances I fail to see the justice of imposing on the Waikato producer, or Auckland consumer, a special tax of 30.^ per cent, on the transit of agricultural produce, 31£ per cent, on the 71 items in class I), and 28 per cent, on coal and the other items of class P, all the«e imposts being in excess of the rates charged in Canterbury and Otago. It is this unfair distribution of the public expenditure and burdens that creates and fosters provincial jealousies. I am doing my best to drag them into the light of day and obtain their removal. If my scheme of railway management is not a colonial as distinguished from a provincial one, then no colonial scheme h.\a ever been presented to the public. From the first I have persi&tently asserted I that " differential rating " ought not to be allowed, that fares and charges ought to be uniform in every district, that as every taxpayer is a shareholder in our railways, the beneficial use of them ought to be placed within the reach of the poorist members of the community as well as the richest, that they ought not to be used as tax Gathering machines, but that they ought to be regarded simply as roads, and used for the general convenience of the public, the promotion of settlement, and the development of trade and commerce. If such a system were inaugurated, we should soon get rid of our pro\ incial jealousies. — I am, &c, S.VMUltti VAILK. The Avenue, Auckland, 11th December, 1884.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — There appears great danger that the piesent movement for a refoini in our railway system will 1 \pse into a mere question for or a?iiinf.t Mr V.iile's scheme. Now I think all praise is. due to th.it gentleman for the zeal and energy with which he has kept this question bcfoie the public ; but when he attempts to follow out the details of railway management, his lack of practical knowledge makes him only to furnish his opponents with a weapon for his destruction. The traffic manager-. <if our railways, with the atatibtics. at their disposal, will have no difficulty in destroying every item of Mr Vaile'b plan. Were a Queen-street clerk to offer to teach us farming, we should laugh at his conceit. Let us beware lest we commit a bimiLir folly by attempts at amateur railway management. I understand that Mr Vaile has consented to speak once moie in the Waikato ;if so, I hope to be able to show how utterly untenable is his position. In the meantime 1 a^lc all those who, like myself, \\ ish to see our railways made "national roads," to insist on a ladical reform— to lay down the broad principles on which our railways should be worked, but fc« leave to men who have the necessary data aud practical experience the details of a plan for the approval of Parliament. — I am, &c., A. SWAKBRICK.

A correspondent writes as follows : — Whatever may be the opinion of the public on the question of railway reform, which has lately been brought prominently before the Waikato settleis, I venture to think that it will be very generally admitted that a reform in the present tariff is required. It is a somewhat difficult matter to deal with the addi esses of Mr Vaile, inasmuch as the public have only had one version of the matter placed before them, without the parties attacked being heard in reply. Without wishing to even suggest that Mr Vaile would wilfully mislead the public, it seoms but natural that he would place the bes.t complexion he conld on his own system, and the worst on that which he wishes to abolish. The changes which he proposes to effect are of such a sweeping and radical nature, that the suspicions of many will be aroused as to their feasibility, and the public will no doubt receive the intollectaal treat he has given them with a grain of caution. These suspicions, I think, will be rather augmented by Mr Vaile's somewhat violent denunciation of the authois of the present system. If he had been a little moie temperate in his remarks in this regaid he would have done more to take the public ear, and command the public confidence. I agive with him in thinking that an official should not have the power to chaige either one shilling or six shillings for the same article, whichever he may think fit, but ho mu*.t really excuse us in not following him when he tells \v> that the passengei fares should be reduced to considerably less than one-fifth of what they are at present •. Nor can I agree with him as to law of averages to make up the difference. The question of railway reform is a very large one,*and of paramount importance to the whole colony, and to no part of it more so than the Waikato. Although I cannot go the length of thinking Mr Vaile will have unqualified success in his project, I give him every credit for giving the subject great attention, and in bestowing on it much time and trouble. Like most reformers, ho takes an extreme and, as I said before, a somewhat violent view of the matter. No doubt theie are anomalies in the present system which might with advantage be corrected, and we would hail with satisfaction a moderate reduction in the fares Now that the Main Trunk line is to be constructed and fresh country opened for settlement, the present would seem an opportune time for a thorough revision of the railway tariff. It is of importance that the tariff should be couched in as clear and simple terms as practicable and the fares be made as low as circumstances will permit, for on this in a great measure depends the successful settlement of the interior, And this object I think may be be better attained by the careful consideraof men competent to deal with the question, rather than by invectives hurled at those who may for the time being have the control of railway affairs.

PREDICTING THE. WkATHEU FROM THE Colour of the Stars.— From the fact, determined by W. Spring, that the colour ot pure water in great bulk is blue, M. Ch. Montigny explains the predominance of this colour in the scintillation of the stars just befors and during wet weather. The luminous rays, he argnes, traversing the air with large quantities of pure water are necessarily tinged with the blue colour of this medium. The excess of blue thus becomes an almost certain means of predicting rain. This theoretic conclusion corresponds with the results of his observations continued for several years past on the appearance of the stellar rays in connection with the state of the weather. During the few months of fine weather in the present year blue has been much less conspicuous than in the corresponding months of previous years since 1876, when wet weather prevailed. ' It also appears that green, which had always coincided with clear skies during the fine years before 1876, has recently again become predominant; Hence he thinks it provable that we have got over the cycle of bad seasons, and < t}iat dry weather and more normal summers may be anticipated, at least for some time tp come. The abeve is from Nature, and the same number contains an abstract of ' a paper by Profe«sor ,0. Miobie Smith, ; on creep^lpujedjsjuujj jfn t wMqh ne con* eludes that this phenomenon is due to the presence,of^nu^aallquantiti^ ,of wufcery