RAILWAY REFORM. Mr S. Vaile at Hamilton.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2165, 25 May 1886, Page 2

RAILWAY REFORM. Mr S. Vaile at Hamilton.

In 1 accordance with previous announcement, Mr Samuel Vuile delivered * lecture on t!ie subject of the reform of tbe railway Hvstfin of the colony at LeQuesne's Half, Hamilton East, <m Friday night Uat. There wero over 150 people present, and the greatest interest ivu taken in the proceedings. Tho chair was taken by Mr A. Primrose, Chairman of the VVaikato County Council, who opened the proceedings by redding the advertisement in The WaikATO Times, and explaining the position of the council. Had there bean an. active, agricultural association in the district the task would have been devolved upon that body, but under tho circumstances the council, feeling the importance <»f the subject, had thought it necessary to obtain an expression of public opinion. Mr Vaile had given' the subject deep consideratian, and had devoted an immense amount of time to it, and they had considered it advisible to a«k hue again to uotne forward and lay hi* views before thorn. He had much pleasure in introducing Mr Vaile to the meeting. Mr Vaile, on rising, was received with applause. Ho said it gave him great pleasure to addre« such a meeting as that ; a meeting called at the instance of one of tho most important counties in New Zealand. It seemed to him to say in effect that the day of talking had pretty well ended, and they were now about to enter on the day of woik. A great deal had been said upon tho subject, aud what was wanted now was some really earnest work. Tho truth was not fully recognised that men had public iis well as private duties to perform. Weie it otherwise, a great deal more would be done. However, tho conditions appeared to Iks j very favourable for bringing the subject forward just now. Depression existed everywhere '; ife was not ' confined' to New Zealand, or to England, or to -Europe ; it existed all over the world. Various reason*; had been assigned for thU depression. Some said it was due to free trade, and SQtfJtfTPttt'itfStowrt t<> protection.- 1 Bo.th were wrong, because the depression was just an deep -in Countries which possessed a free trade policy as it was in those where protection obtained. Again, some said it was owing to the land tenure, but it was felt equally in those countries where the most liberal land laws were in operation. It was ascribed to over-production, but so long as there wero millions of properly fod or clothed that could not be admitted. !No individual, however aided by appliances, could supply his own wants. It took the associated efforts of all to do this, and it followed that there could not be any overproduction. The fact was that they had managed things so as to take the purchasing power out of the hands of the people. When deprobsion came they ascribed it to various local causes, but as it was universal it could not be accounted for in this way. The reasons must be looked for in other directions. So fur »h he had been able to discover, there was little or no real distress in countries where railways did not exist. The depression seemed to be greatest in those countries which possessed the greatest railway facilities. The secret of the depression must therefore lie in tho transit system. What was wrune tU pto the end of 18$2, no- less than £4,340,000,000 had been spent in, \ railway construction. Now, it such a sum as this had been misapplied there could be no other result than distress. , Of that amount J&3,-3G1,000,000 had been spent in thetwepty two years between ISGO and 1882, and the railways had failed utterly in fulfilling their mission. They had succeeded in centralising wealth and population when they should .have acted as distributing; agents, and had brought about distress when they should have created prosperity. ■ Why railways operated in the direction of centrahsers was owing to tbe system upon which transit charges had been reckoned. Let them take Auckland for example. Suppose a man wished to establish a manufactory outside the town. The freight per ton fur one mile would be, say, Gd, for two miles Is, for three miles Is Cd, and so on. Thus it would be seen that the cost of production would increase in a direct ratio with the distance from town. The effect of this then would be to drive him in on the centre. The same thing, would apply to his workpeople, and so the massing process went on. A few people were thus enabled to pile up wealth while the mass of people were reduced to poverty. He would explain his meaning. In Auckland at the present time there were largenumbers of men out of employment ; they were living on 33-feet allotment*, out of which it was not possible for them to make anything ; but if their dwellings were surrounded by an acre or two of land, they could grow something which would stand them" m good stoud when bad times overtook them. There must be something radically wrong in, a State where such a condition of things existed, in a Statp, for instance, where it was possible for a man in the course of nn ordinary lifetime to amass a fortune of thiity six millions, while hundreds and thousands weie on the verge of starvation. He did not say that the remedy for this was that they nra&t take from one man and give to another. What they ought to do was to alter the conditions, so that such anomalies as this could not arise. (Applause.) He then referred to tho wretched poverty existing in large cities, and desciibed in touching language .scenes he had witnessed in some of the miserable dens in London. What wondrr, ho said, that these people gave themselves up to drink when they could get it. It was the only thing which enabled them to forget their sufferings. There was no use in finding fault; they must change the conditions of their livenjf they wanted to make them better. He could tell them tales of the most harrowing description, but 1 ho did not wish to dwell on them, and his object in referring to them at .ill was to ■ i»>int fmt , that the same things would take root and flourish, here, within the lifetime of middle-aged meuj ifi an, alteration were' not 'effected in the railway < system, which he? firmly be* lieved lay at the root of the depression. (Applause). There was no use in modifying the tariff. They would, he knew, be met with offers ;of that kind, but he' warned them tli«t cheap rates would do no good so long as the present system prevailed. No matter how low they were made, the vicious principle in them would still operate in the direction of centralising wealth add population. Take the instance of the factory again, and suppose that the rate was only id per ion per -mile, the manufacturer would save £d, by having his factory in town instead of seven miles in the cpuntry v No modification of the present system would meet the case. What was wanted was a system which' would practically annihilate distance and put the people throughout the country- on somewhat the same level as regarded tho cost'of conveyance. He did not seek to' reduce all to a dead level, because he knew that woujd bo. impossible, nor did he «eek to do away with' the large centres, but he wanted to make it possible for men to live outside those centres. Now \a order to tbe attainment of this- 'object they must abolish the mileage system and differential 1 rating, Until these were wiped out there c.mild_ be.no jeaj refofrm. He had explained thTeffect of the mileage system. The en>ct of differential rating , was somewhat similar, inasmuch as it tended to mass supplies in the laige centres. For instance, if anyone wished to send a ton of potatoes to, «ay, Otahuhu, the department would charge him a rate and a quarter, and the same to any other plaae short of Auckland* whereas to that city only the ordinary rate wad charged ; so that in the case of Otahuhu it was cheaper to send the potatoes first of all to ' Auckland, whence they could be sent back. The effect of this was,*as they would see, to ma&s the population, as the manipulation of tho goods at Auckland meant the employment of labour, If the mileage system were abolished goods would be , dropped at the places to which they were consigned. If the stage system were adopted, the factory which he had instanced might just as well be placed at the end of tho first stage as. at the beginning, as the only loss which would acpure would be in the time of the proprietor himself. If he were wise he would go to the end of the stage where he would have the advantage of being able to draw supplies and labour from both sides. In this wwaty t country or suburban towns would be built up, and the population distributed over the land. When they remembered that al) wealth came from the people and the land they would see how important this was, and would recognise * the necessity' of taking steps to bring about such a system, If the new system were adopted the towns of Waikato must become what they were intended to be, hives of industry, He Ifoen explained the stage syytern in detail, with the aid of his well known diagrams. They would notice, he said, that after the first few stages, theru appeared to be wide gasp ; these were over wh.it might be called blank country, wheie settlement was thin. For instance, from Pukekohe to Hamilton was only one stage. He did not intend that these long gap* should be permanent,

When the population of Hamilton reached 2000 ho would put a stage seven mile* on either side, when it reached four thousand another stage, and so on for every additional two thousand of population. By these means the transit charges would be equalised all over tho country. When allowable he would 1 educe the rates; they could not bo ton low. (Applause). In lespect of goods be pro* ixwed to reckon thu charges on the sarae principle, unfortunately there wero no figures available upon which to form any estimate of what the charge per tun per mile ought to be to save loss or* to make a gain in the receipt:). A member of tho House, Mr E. <_>. Wright, did upon one ! occasion, just after he (Mr Vaile) had taken up tho subject, move for a return, which, had it been furnished in the m.inner asked for, would h.i\e gu en the nece^ary data. But the Government, after soma dolav, came down wich a mass of papers which would fill about 24 feet of shelving. This was something like the practice of the Great Northern Hallway Company, who published » grjMt mass of rates with the object of preventing anybody reading them. How were they ijoing to gptthn people back into the country. Many were under tho impression that tliii could be done by land scheme*. Mr Firth had done the right thing, but ho (Mr Vaile) ventured to say th.it if a hundred families wero put on the land at Matamata the railway would, unless the system were altered, take then .ill back again. It was merely a question of price. He would repeat, they must guard against any mongrel plan, any modification of the present system. An attenipl would be ni.ide to foist something of tho kind upon them, but they should resist if, and bo satisfied with nothing short of the abolition of the inileasre, and differential systems (Loud applause). Under the new system the population would, so to speak, pivot on the ticket stations, which would ultimately become towns suitable for something or another, Without a change they would never be created. Under a, more enlightened system, would tfce'wAtk.shopi' have been 'put up at Newmarket, where there was no room, ant) where they only served to disfigure the suburbs of the city ? No they would have been erected at Papakura, where there was plenty of space, and whore the Government had land admirably adapted for the purpose. If the shops had been there, the "workpeople and their families would havo gone there, and another centre outside the city would have been created. If anybody could show a plan by which all this could be accomplished better than by his system, let, it be bi ought forward. He had shown the only one yet, but he was quite prepared to take a back seat when something better was forthcoining. (Applause.) There was another very important thing. The now system, whatever it was, must bo simple. The present tariff was an absurdity, and could not be understood. It was not understood by the officers of the Department. What was wanted was a simple table, such as that on the stage, by which a person could, by simply multiplying the rate per stage by the number of stages tell at once what he would have to pay. If the terminal and wharf charges, &c, were retained another table would be required. He simply offered these rates as sugge|-floris^-gTftjflfd srhthrae ifi,oots [a£%;Be commenced the agitation and he had?,'libt made any alteration sinco. He had Desn accused of offering a number of plans-^Mr Richardson had accused him of this— bnt he hAd done nothing of the kind. He would ask them if the diagrams now on the stage were not the same as those which he exhibited on the occasion of his first visit to Hamilton. (Hear, hear, and applause.) The figures he used were not hard and fast figures, but the freight must be reckoned in the same way. The rate might be altered, but tho rate remained the same. The next point they bad to consider was, whether the systom could be made to pay. This question rented on three things, (1), were the reductions proposed sufficient to ensure getting two or more fares where there was only one at present ; (2), what was likely to be the amount of the average fare ; and, (3), would it cost more to carry three than one ? At the present time the faro to Onehunga was Is, first, or J)d, second ; under his systen. it would beCd or4d. Mr Maxwell had said that so far as the short distance fares were concerned, be (Mr Vaile) proposed a heavy increase. Now they could see for themselves for the diagram had not been altered, whether there was any truth in that assertion (Hear, hear.) To Manurewathe present fare was 3s 2d or 2s Id, it used to bo 3s 7d or 2>, sd, his fare was Is or Bd. This was what Mr Maxwell called an increase. (Laughter.) To Drury the faie was 4s 7d or 3s Id; he proposed to make it Is Gd or Is. To Hamilton it was 17s fid or 11s Bd, under his system 2s fid or Is 8d ; to Te Awamutu 20s lOd or 13s lid, under tho new system 3s or 2s. Now, tho question was, were these reductions sufficient to make people travel twice for once? (Applause.) Were they sufficient to induce a man when he travelled to take some member of his family, or some friend with him? (Applause.) His impression was that they were more likely to get ten f >r one than two for one, but all he wanted to establish his position was: two. The amount of the average fare, which was found by dividing the tojtal revenue by the number of tickets sold, was Is ll£d. It followed, therefore, if they could devise a scheme by which two could be induced to travel where only oue travelled at present, and by which the average fare would not sink below one shilling, they mu«t of necessity make a profit. If three fares could' be obtained upon the same- terms, the annual increase in the revenue would be £200,000, and for every . additional fare another £200,000. Thw a was not all. Under the present system,suupose uman took a tirst-clasj ticket at Auckland for Hamilton : he paid 17s Gd. He himself, by the way, had paid 18a Gd that day bee iuse he w.vs (ined f>r getting on the train without a ticket, being Lite, and doubtless the department thought it right to "have" hint when they got a chance (Laughter). Well this amount w«uld be made up if the seat occupied by that pissenger were occupied by a aeries of pissengrtrs, 6»3h going from one station to the ne\t. It mattered little whether the train carried one man the whole distance or twenty men at different stages. In answer to Mr Maxwell's assertion thai the railway could not carry passangers at such rates, Mr Vuile explained that in tho South l-laud, over the longest length of opened line, the depart mentwere carrying good* at much lower rates, ton per ton, than he proposed to carry passengers at. ■ The fare for the longest journey in the South, Island 43<> miles was 1 £1 lOa or £3 Qs Ud, under the now »ynfom it < would be 18s' fld or 13s Bd. The average would thus be 15s8d. Mr Maxwell said this could not be done. ' Well they could i travel that distance in America for 18s 2d, and- in India for 9s 6d. It might be objected that everything was cheap in India. ' Very well, he would cite the case of the miost costly railway in the world, the 'Metropolitan Railway pf London. The jline cost £660,000 per mile to construct, and ,yot they carried passengers 'at th,e rate of J4s G}d for 436. miles, In New Zealand, the ;liues cost £BQoo,.»nd the rate pf interest i would be abnilt the same as that paid by fthp Metropolitan. The latter had therefore to pnyei'ghty-bnetimes as nnichus the former, 'and as their fares Were only one-third of the' lowest fare proposed by him, the Metropolitan line would have to ,carry 3QO passengers, for every one carried in Now ssoaland. Mr Maxwell asked them to look a£ the millions of people in London. Now the population of the whole of London was not nine times that of Great Britain was not seventy times greater than the population of New Zealand. Where then did they get their fares from. } Simply by shifting the population. It was simply nonsense to say that the people could not be shifted if proper facilities were given. He would refer them to the case of the Auckland tramways. Before the trams started he predicted that they would carry five when the 'buses had only carried one. Now what was the. fact ? Though the reduction in the fare, was small, the number carried by the trams avos twenty times that of the number carried by the 'buses. A Wellington paper had taken him upon this point, and remarked that he seemed to forget that the trains had a large population to wqrk on. He replied that he had not forgotten it, but he also knew that the people were there before the trams came, only they did not travel then. (Applause.) Did they not think that undar his system two would travel where one did now"? (Hear, heap, and applause.) Mr Vailo then quoted figures to show that so far as the cpst of carrying passengers was concerned, no loss would accrue. lieturning to the differential rating system, Mr Vaile &aid they might have, noticed that the ratas were imposed a> against Auckland, The reason given for this was that it cost more to work the Auckland lines. The fact waa the reverse, because the cost per train mile of the Hurunui-Bluff line was 4* Ugd, while the cost of the wmo

on the Auckland railways was 4s .'JJ. ! The differential rate was most curio«i. If, for instance, ft ponum in Auckland wanted to send n ton of sued potatoes to Rangiriri, ~t) miles, it would co-it him 18s lid, if he Hcnt it to NgAiiawahia, 74 mile*, the freight would bo indifferently 17s !)d or 235 ; t«> Frankton it was 18s or 24s GH. To To Awamutn, 100 miles, the e'.nrge would Ixs 2oa or 2(is, while to Cambridge, which was 101 mile*, the freight would only bo 13* fid ! (Laughter). Now upon what principle wns such h system as thin founded ? (applause) It was simply monstious that such a system should be submitted to. Tt was a source of wonder to him that the people did not riso up en masse and say "we will blot out this system " (Loud applause). He could give numberless instances to show the utter absunty of the .system, which seemed to have been designed to bar all trado, but he would only cite one other. A farmer *ent 8 gallons of milk to Auckland, with « view to test the market, and the railway auth >ntie.s demanded 0s freight. (Loud laughter). After a long corroboree, and with the prospect of having the milk thrown on their hands, they consented to tako Is lid. (Laughter). Was not that a monstrous absurdy? (Applause). As to the third questiou he had proposed, lie did not think it necessary to detain them. When a train would pay to run four miles to get five fare-., which was the caie at present, it was nil nonsense to say that they could not carry extra passenger". The main points which he wished to bring before them were, briefly, that the evils attendant upon niaising the population in the large towns, weie owing in great measure to theexistingsystem; that the system proposed by him would have a contrary effect, and that, further than this, his system could be made to pay. By adopting the stage syntem, he confidently believed they would make ft profit of £200,000, which sum would be sufficient to reduce the rates on goods by one-third, but he proposed to apply it only to the reduction of freights in natural products, manures, fencing materials, ftc., believing that it was on* of their chief duties to foster their own industries as mnch as possible. In conclusion, he wopkl say that, Hhortly, by the adoption'of nis scheme he honestly believed that not only would they gain the advantages he had indicated, but they would arrive at a proper financial fesult. Mr Vaile resumed his seat amidst loud and continued applause. The Chairman invited questions or discussion. The meeting, he felt sure, would be glad to hear both sides of the question. Mr W. A. Graham, Mayor of Hamilton, said the question they were met to consider was a very important one, and should be treated apart altogether from party feeling or bias. He would ino\o "That the matter of railway inform in rates and charges is one of .such Mtal impoitance to the agricultural interests and settlement policy of New Zealand that it should be considered and discussed in all placos a3 independent of paity bias or political feeling." Captain Steele seconded the resolution, believing that it would take both sides of the House to pull tho question through. Tho motion was put and carried unauimouslv. Mr J. J. Barugh thought some measures should be devised for reprinting Mr Vaile's pamphlet. Jtie regarded it as unadinirable production, and should be aent all over the colony, but they could not expect Mr Vaile to be at the expense of reprinting it. Mr S. T. Sfddon moved "That this meeting views with grave alarm the depression at present existing in country districts, and believes a large amount of that depression to be caused by the present rate of charges in use on our railways, which we have no hesitation in saying is a complete hindrance to the (occupation of country lands by small settlors." Their railways must be made to pay, directly or indirectly, otherwise they were a failure. If they were not worked with the object of promoting the settlement of the lands of the colony, or, if they did not enable those who now occupied and had become producers to export their products, the management was a failure. Sir George Grey and other statesmen might propound schemes for placing the people on the land, but if the railways were not worked with the same object in view, no scheme, however wise, would keep them there. Fanners must export their surplus produce, or they would neither do themselves nor the colony any good, and in view of the fact that rings had been formed in America for cheapening transit rates of stock and produce exported to the English market, they in New Zealand must be furnished with the same weapons. Transit lates mu»t favour the enterprising settler who went into the interior of the country, and be made to promote the settlement of the country, not the suburbs of cities. Mr Vaile's u.i^ht or might not be the best means of levying fares and charges, but their best thanks weie due to him for the time and means he had expended in exposing the evils "of the present system, and he sinceiely trusted Parliament would appoint a commission to examine into and ieport upon the management of their working railways. Mr W. A. Graham, in seconding the resolution, said he was thoroughly convinced of the accuracy of Mr Vaile's statements. This resolution was also carried unanimously. Mr Barugh moved that a subscription list be opened for the purpose of rcpublishing Mr Vaile's pamphlet. Capt. Steele seconded, but for some reason or other the resolution was not put. . Mr G. ' ~W> Russell said the agitation should be carried on throughout the colony 1 , so that pressure might be brought to bear upon, thojrepresentatiyew of rother; constitu•noiefcto' support MV Whyte When' he next presented tho petition to the House. He fully.appreciated Mr VaiJeV.paniphlet; but it was toil" bulky to be read generally. Therefore he would suggest that a number ,of leaflets, setting forth the main features of the pcboine, bo piepared and circulated throughout, the .country, to branch&s of the league, to local bodies and to the. newspaper Press, asking the favour of their leproductiin. Hb .moved, "That in the opinion of this meeting a New Zealand Railway Reform League should be formed tr> urge ths House to appoint a commission to enquire into Mr Vaile's scheme of railway reform, or any other that may be proposed. This was seconded by Mr Graham and carried without dissent. Capt. Steele moved, " That this meeting earnestly requests the Government to appoint } a pomuiissioh of commercial and men 9 to make 'searching enquiry into tho general management of the railways, also into a, system of levying fares jand charges, proposed by Mr Samuel Vaile of Auckland, and any other icheme that may be brought under their ricttice, with a view to frame, such a tariff of charges that country settlers Will •be enabled to send their produce to a seaport, for expopfca* tion,, which the present rates completely? debar them from doing." Mr Vaile had shown them how the tariff afflicted the cotratry settlers. It was ' the height of absurdity, and. if he had his way he would give the author of the 1 precious document ftx. > months in gaol. (Laughter and applause). It opened the door to enormous abuses. He was quite sure that if Mr Firth put people on the land, the railway would take them off again. The present system was most oppressive. The rates were just as high as they were when, produce was worth nearly a hundred per cent, more than it was at present. He quoted one or two instances, to show the inequality of charges and theic prohibitive character. it seemed to him as if Mr Maxwell had been imported for the express purpose of plundering the people. He must confess that when Mr Vaile commenced the agitation, he fur oi)o thought the stage system ridiculous, but he Tiad gone carefully into the subject, and wa3 certain now that Mr Vaile was on the right track. The big companies, as well as the small settlers, would have to take up the question, otherwise they would sqon find it difficult to dispose of their land. (Applause). Mr A. Swarbrick seconded the motion. He cordially endorsed all Captain Steele had said as to the necessity of a thorough overhauling of our railway system, With regard to Mr Vajle's scheme, it was natural that a scheme which promised to reduce the fare^ to a nominal sum, and increase the revenue by so doing, should ba popular. But,wou.ld" these promises be fulfilled? At nch a late hour it was useless to attempt to discuss this question. He would therefor content himself with naming the three main reasons why he and lv's friends could ijot approve of tb,is scheme. They were as fallows:— -1. Jfc would necessitate heavy additional taxation. 2. In practice it would be found to contain the greatest anomalies. 3. It iqads no provision for securing mwoaaed facilities and the abolition of political "wire pulling'" matters quite as important as the question of rates. These reasons might be considered sound or not, but it was manifest that a question so full of complicated detail and involving such important issues oould not be disposed of at a meeting like this, and the i only praotical oourse was. tu have the whole, 1

question examined by a lloyal Culmination. But, further, lie maintained that whether Mr VdiloN ttchuine was wmnd or not they must still have railway rofurm. When the Lttft petition w.w fr.iinecl ha had {minted out that by so ntrrowing the issue they wmild get nothing. And now Mr Whyto told them that when that petition was before Parliament it w,is looked upon m ft petition in favour of Mr Vaile's scheme, and as such not n single member thought it worthy of serious discussion. If they wanted any practical reault thoy matt agitate for a general enquiry, and not for any cut and dried scheme. Mr W. A. Graham pointed out that they must have something definite, and Mr Vaile's scheme was definite. Capt Me Pherson said Mr Swarbrick had stated nil the argument* he (tho speaker) liad ever heard urged against Mr Vaile't .ithetiif. When anybody asked an opponent why tlie facliPtno was no good, the answer he got Man " Because it u not" (Laughter). Capjt. Steele said the reason why the petition had failed of its object wah becauce pressure had not been brought to bear. If a workman had been di*carhged a commission would have been appointed to enquire in to the circumstances forthwithf It was not what the members of Parliament wanted that tlioy had to consider, but what the people wanted. Mr Henry Reynolds confessed that until he heard Mr Vaile that evening ho was |not quite satisfied as to tho practicability of the scheme, but he was not ashamed to admit that Mr Vaile had convinced him. If any jemained unconverted they ought not long to remain in that state. The railways as at present managed were really a hindrance to sottirmont. Some time since a firm in Waikato had made arrange* ments to send large quantities of dead meat to Auckland, and the whole thtaf i turned on the question of freight The department steadily refused to make my concession in the matter of rates, and ac tho freight for dead meat was about double that charged for live stock the project vm abandoned. The motion was then put and carried without ajdissentintr voice. * ** ~ the meeting wrre, enrolled as members of the Reform League, with power to add to their number and form branches :—Captains Steele, Rnncimau, and Daly, Messrs Vai'.e, J. J. Barugh, A. Primrose, j. Martynjuu., H. Steele, H. Reynold*, G. Edgecunibe, Jas. Hume, S. T. Seddon, S. S. Graham. W. A. Graham, Bindon, J. Parr, G. W. Russell, F. J. Yon Stunner, Greville Smith, C. J. \V. Barton, W. F. Bell, A. Sujii buck, and Blight. Several suggestion i were then made as to the best method of procedure. The Mayor (Mr Graham) was appointed convener of the League. Mr S. T. Seddon roovod a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Vaile. . Mr Swarbrick seconded the motion. He was quite sure that, 110 matter what opinion thoy might hold regarding the scheme they all admired the pluck and determination displayed by Mr Vaile. % If that gentleman had not come forward; and stuck to the subject they would probably have got no reform at all. (Hear hear.) The motion was carried by acclamation. Mr Vaile, in icturning thanks, said in reference to some remarks which had fallen from Mr Swarbrick, that he was perfectly convinced the adoption of the system would not involve any financial loss, because the average fare could not sink belew a shilling. That had "been clearly demonstrated. He was grateful to Mr Svrarbrick for the kind way in which he had referred to his efforts, and he Wished now to say that if at any time he had allowed his feelings to get the better of him he *•- gretted it very much. But when he thought of the evil& of the present system it was as much as he could do sometimes to keep his temper. He would not say that he had made no mistakes. He would be more than mortal if he had not, and ho was moreover fully sensible of the great responsibility undertaken by one man in combating a system which it had taken four thousand millions of pounds to build up. He had felt this at the outset, and had tried to associate others with himself bnt had failed, and therefore, feeling that he was right, he had gon« alone. He w« c discious of many errors, which would have been avoided if he hid had the benefit of others' advice, but ho was quite convinced that the principle he advocated wan the light on a. He thanks i them very sincerely for the kind way in which they hud icceived him. A vote of th ink-> to the chair brought th» proceeding to a close. The Mayor announced that the member* of League would hold then first meeting at the hjnio place at 11 o'clock the following morning. Accordingly, the momlwrs of the Leagtii met at LeQuesne'rt Hall at the hour named on Saturday morning. There wcie present :— His Worship the Mayor (in the chair), Captain Steele, Messrs S. Vaile, H. Reynolds, Gt>o. Edgecumbe, J. J. Barugh, Capt. Runciman, Messrs Seddon, Russell, Grewlle Smith, Bindon, Yon Stunner. Barton, Bright, and Capt. Daley. Mr Yon Stunner was appointed secretary and treasurer, the amount of honorarium to be fixed hereafter. Mr J<\ D. Rich was elected a member, and the secretary was instructed to write to various prominent settlers and others, asking them if they will consent to be nominated. On the motion of Mr Barton seconded by Capt. Steela, it was resolvedto take steps to form branches in variotu parts of tho colony and that a 1 canvass for subscriptions be instituted forthwith. It was resolved that Mr. Vaile bo asked to prepare a- aeries of leaflets for 3 dis*' tribution as suggested at the previous night* meeting. The .following were' appointed an executive committee to attend to matters of d stall :— The Mayor (chairman), C.»pt. Steele, Messrs .Secidon, Edgec unbe, Kusnellj Bartrtn>atid*smith, four to form a quorum. The ,seqre^ary, w»s dn» striicted to to the Auckland Chambe| of Commercp and the Auckland Agricultural and Pjwtoi al AHsociation;fl»kin2 those bodies to take the lead in the'Wk'tter of refoHn, and to assist in forming branches in various parts of the colony. Nearly £15 was subscribed by those present for the purpose of meeting the necessary expenses, and a hop©, was expressed that this sum would, be hugely augmented by sympathisers in Waikato and Auckland, as a considerableamount- of money would be required to' carry on operation*. The executive committee will meet on Friday.