MORE RAILWAY VAGARIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2041, 6 August 1885, Page 3

MORE RAILWAY VAGARIES.

A coiinrsroMH-M' wutes :— Let the Minister for Public Works declaim ns lie ni.iy, nothing will convince Waikato settlers but th.vt the Government, thiough tin. Railway Depaitment, is seuously miming the country. Who can possibly think otherw i^« m the face "f tho inmuner.iblo proofs which are daily foithcorinng ? Cm the heads of the dcp.utniont h,i\c gone out of thair nnnds, 01 what on earth can thoy mean ? Will they always peisist in closing their eai.s to the piotests, remonstrances and appeals of the colonial public '! Day .iftei day and week after week do tho lamentations of our settlers go forth, but a deaf ear is turned to then supplications. What on earth, we may reasonably ask, will be the outcome of tins official apathy? Surely it cannot la^t for ever. It would seem that tho anomalies as well as the gener.il unreasonableness of our railway tanff are intemiinable. Almost e\eiy day biings to light some new and staitling vagu>. In many re-elects wo heie hi W.uLvto had hotter be completely isolated fi >m tho Auckland market. The railway t.uiff absolutely piolnbits our suiding a 1 ir o r e piopoition of our animal pioduce to t'iwn. Several \ery valuablo lines of tiadc are altogether '-mothered out of existence, and not only are tho unfortunate settlets made to suffer, but the revenue ot the lailway is very nonously affected. Mi Moon, of Oambndge, wanted to send .v qumtity of palings to Morrinsyille, ami foi tlm purpose engaged a truck. Ilestaited loading at Cambiidgo to-day. After putting in about 2000 palings (palings of shingle thickness), he found the truck was only about ha\{ full, and so proposed t<> hll it up with posts. P.ut ho was soon told tho cost of giving effect to this idea, which prevented him from entertaining it at any further length. The 2000 paling* he was told would cost 30-s, at tho rate of It Gd a hundred, as sawn timberexactly the same as charged foi the be»t class of dressed bridge timber. The posts which lie piopo->ed to add to fill up with, though only a fow in numbei , he was told would involve a further charge of 22s Gd. It appears if a man only puts twenty posts m a truck he will ha\e to pay the whole figure, 22.s (id. Now tho 2000 palings were cm ted fiom the Waotu bush, over 'S"> miles of one of the worst iohls in tho piovince, foi a sum about equal to that which tho railway chaiges to convey it about 20 miles ovei the line to Moinn.sville. It would be equally as cheap to cait them the whole distance. Strange to say, ati uck of posts cannot be sent to Moi i uisVille under 22s (kl, wheieas the same truck oan be returned full of pioduce for 10s Sd. Mi Moon was in hopes of doing a laigo business with these palings in tho W.utoa and Thames Valley district, having received sevoial large orders, but the tanff has completely upset his airangements. Aj*ain, people living in tho Hautapu district Hnd it cheaper to have thon coals sent on to Cambiidgo instead of having them shunted off at the Hautapu station. Coal is carried to Cambridge fot Ids 6d a ton, and to Hautapu, about tvvo miles less, for lKs (Jd. And yet another instance of a atil! moio striking character. The societaiy of tho Cambridge Cheese Factory has been in communication with tho manager of the railway about the oxoihitant price which that factoiy had to pay for tho tvmago of the last consignment of cheese to Auckland. The ohargo made was 20s (id for a ton, wheroas it was thought that l~>s would luvo onmo noaier the mark. The Hamilton factory, it would '■com, only paji 12s (Id, and it is a mjsteiy theieforo that 17s should be charged for the additional 12 miles.

Visifc'irß to the Aioiia Hot Baths for tho prist fnitnight :— Mi and Miss Outliw.ute, Mr Mill, Mr Caicw, Mr Emery, Mr Bnghain, Mr l'iercc, Mih Holmes, Mr Dowere, Mr and Mrs Heather, Miss IS.irton, Mr Edwards, Mr Pond, Mr Butler, MrMaisdon, Mr Bond, Mr Roid, Mr W. (irey, Mr Patterson, Mr Mallard, Mr fiord on, Mr Levy, Mi J. (Jrev, Mr Knight, Mr Hairs, Mr Mellois, Mi Fmut, Miss Batgrr, Mr O'SulHvau, Auckland ; Rev. F. O'Reilly, Mr Hutteiwoith, Mi Jai. Craig, jun., Mr and Mi^ Peel, Mj* Mormon, Miss Reiuuck, Thames ; Major Jackaou, Mr Fiason, Mi liuttle, Mr Franklin, Mr liartlet, Mr f!olomau, Mr Beeie. Mr Foriuith, Mr Moody, Waikato ; Mr Wells, OambridjM, Mr W. M. Hay, Mrq O'Doa, Hamilton 5 Mi (Inerson, Mr Baldwin, GhrJ«tchurch ; Mr Jackson, Kilnkihi } Mr Bareford, Ireland ! Key. B. Callman, Sydney ; Mr P'Arcy McDnugall and tervant, Qupenslnnd ; Rev. Mr Kehoe, Southland ; Mi»a Law, Dunedin ; Mr Paunbarger, Morrin->ville ; Mr O'Sullivan, Onehunga ; Mr Soppett, Ngan\awahia ; Mr Hemming, Otahuhu; Mr Hawkins, Now Houth Wales, etc.