TE AWAMUTU.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2084, 14 November 1885, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU.

Thk letuni of tlip cavahy fion, tho sham fight in Auckland %\ a-» not unatt/.)uLd with .v considerable .uuouub of iucoii.umuncc t. the iik'ii. Aiiangumonts had been made to li.imi dinner, or peihaps moie pioperly -pc Jcin^, supper, lo.idy for tli'in at l'or-tei'-t hotul when tJi'sy should aiuve at Mercei. Mi Poiter cai lied out Ms nistructit »ii->, and li.id tables l.nd fur hity, but to Ins -111 pi isi», and the suipiisu i>f the men, tho ill-n.itim'(l .uid woj-se-mau'iered guaid (tlio hist railway tiflSi.-r.il, by tin* w ly, I li.ne c\cr lieaid of being <^tnlt> of liuleuoss or incivility on this hut) lefused to let tlie tram >t<>p long enough for the men to get anything to eat. Tho engine wai watered, and the tiaiu steamed oIF. (>n being 10moiistiated with, tin: surly fellow thieatened to go w ithout the men. The tioop got to Kcumeia a few minutes past «i\, loaded then hoi set-, and then li.id to wa.it till 5.30 foi tho ti.un to come on fjom Auckland to take them on. On arriving at Pukekoho the Waiuku Cavalry and Mounted Hilles ueie unloaded, .and some ol the carriages weie left theie, leaving the To Awamutu men and some civiilian passengois to be 1 lacked like sardines for want of sufficient loom. On the way the men iuii\wed themselves in n leiy harmless maunci by li.iwng ,i tug of w.u in the carnage, wlien the. gentlemanly (.') gu.ud came in .mdoideied thun to stop if, telling them at the -aine tune that they weio a "' lot of Faynuiis. ' One m in told him he was the only Fenian pie-<ent, and wanted putting out ol the carriage, and accoidingly he suited tlio action to tlio woid. I don't like to oiler advice to tho'ic who know moie about their duties than I, but had I been the officer in coininuul of the tioop 1 would ha\e put two -cut lie-, on the engine, and compelled the ti.uti to wait till the men got .-.omething to c.it. Many of them liad fasted fiom e.uly mommg, tor on theii return to Auckland fiom the lanes they had to fall m at once, and waich to Kemuer.i >Mtl)«>ut .a moinciit's delay. Tlio j.»ilw.iy olKciiiK lm\e, and justly '♦o, the imputation of being exceedingly cisil evednndu cncuin-.tances whi'ih would try the patience of Job, but the guard in question h an exception. He may have ti.ne had his ordeis but he could at least lu\ c been ciul in the execution of tliein. Mi I'orter carried out his in-tinctions in preparing dmnci foi the men, and he cannot be expected to stand the losh, w hile it !•> cxtiemely haid for the m^n to pay for what they ditl not get. The whole airangement was a .snare and a delusion. The &> called cheap fares weie_ only Saturday letiitn tickets with tho time Cvtonded for .i few days. Had cheap fares, tho .same as weio ananged for last Maich, been offered to the public, there would ha\o been a \eiy l.uge attendance of people fio'ii thu country distiicts. Ministeis in leply to deputations utter tho thne-honouied ht.itL.ment " Government will footer the ngiicultural industiies." They do so by putting on prohibitive lates on pioduee eauied by rail, and their idea of making lailu.iys pay is to cliargo biich high fares that people, unless absolutely compelled, will not \isit the centiei of population. One would think fiom tho success ot tho cheap cxciiriinn last Maich that ariaugemcuts would ha\o been made for .similar exclusions at inteivals, especially on business days, but with mi obstinacy that is perfectly unacconnt.ible, tho dop.utinont rofiibe to giant any Mich concessions to the public. No discretionary power \a granted to tho local manager, who known tho lequirotnonts •>( hin district. He is coinpolled to submit e\ prything to Wwllington for approval, but with an obstinacy which savours of malignity the jaeks-m-otnee there refuso any concession that ■would bo a convenience to the public. Mr Maxwell may nossibly bo good for something. He iinehfc peihaps asceiLam what that something is by applying to a phrenologist, but it does notrequno n. phicKnlngist to tell him that his forte doe* not he in railway management. He ridiculed Mi v'.ule's scheme, and characteiised it as linpi acticable, and instead of trying to sco whether it would, in at any rate a modified form, be applicable, he denounced it, and was not paiticulaily careful as to posi ti\o facts in reporting on it. V>y what right docs he and tho Minister for Public Works ignoie the wishes of the public, not only of this but of the other island ? That the wholr of Now Zealand is dis^atished with our system of railway miH. in ui.igement is \ery evident from tho number of Nign.ituie* attachod to tho petition M'nt to tho House last session. With an utter disregaid foi tiuth, we are told that our hyitem of railway njan.igeniont is as near peifeetion .ih possible. When cheap f.ues in other coiintiies aie mentioned, we aie told they obt lin because the population is gioater than in New /"»- land. That is no roa.son, however, why llio peoplo heie kooulcl not have moio inducements to tra\ el held out to them. It is a self evident fact that tlio trains would cany a much greater number of passengers if the fares wero lower, and as a nocessaiy coiiseqjwnce the revenue would bo gieatly in creased. The shopkeeper who sells the best goodj> at jbhu low est possible price does tho inoHt business an/) inake.s the most money, and the same rjusinets principle might with advantage ho applied to our railways.