The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2166, 27 May 1886, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Equal and.exact justi-.c to all men, Of whatsoever state 01 persuasion, religious or political. Here shall the Press the People s right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by pain.

THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1886.

The New Zealand Railway Reform ? \ League lias now been fairly launched 1 1 upon its course. It will rest with the settlers of r the '• Waikato in the first instance, and with the people'of the colony generally, in the assistl i auce they may render to the cause by personal exertions and the sup-, port of its funds, whether the ■ Executive Committee shall be able to arouse such an unruistakeable expression of insistance as shall' secure from Parliament this session ' the granting the prayer of the petition now before the colony. The Legislature is not asked to hastily embark on a new and untried -• scheme of railway management, but •imply to appoint a Royal Commission to enquire into the policy on which the management of our working railways is based, and specially ' to enquire into and report upon the " system of levying fares and freights proposed by Mr Vaile. We only '• ask that a commission may be granted,' being thoroughly convinced that if this is done Mr Vaile will be able.to satisfactorily explain before it the principles of his 1 system, and to defend the details and financial results of its operations. . There should be no need to Urge upon settlers in Waikato the necessity for railway reform. They have felt too keenly the pinch of a mistaken policy which runs our railvrays as a machine for squeezing direct returns out of those who use them, rather than as a means to foster the settlement of the country and the growth of produce for ' - transport, looking for an indirect profit through the Customs duties, and from an immensely increased railway traffic. All are agreed upon the miserable failure of the present system. Every day we see the depletion of the country population slowly but surely going ou, and our people one after another deserting the tillage of 'the , soil and a, country life for the less hazardous and wore profitable occupations of the city. The town is swollen into undue, nrid unhealthy , proportions, till the cry of uu- - employed labour is periodically heard,* and the settler, year by year, becomes poorer and poorer. The , < i true cause is to be fopnd iv tfce • > v mismanagement of our 'railways The rates of freight are in many cases simply prohibitive. Settlers situated as far as the Waikato from Auckland cannot, send thftii* produce with profit to .-. market, after the cost of railway freight has been >, ! ;' ' deducted. Take To Awamutu, for > instance. Potatoes piy just fcweaifcy o '■ five per sent, of their fuU'lSj'o*

\ alue when selling in Auckland for £3 per ton, merely to puy the railway charges. For chaff, oaten hay, and other bulky produce, there v ould be a good demand for export even from Auckland, but that the railway charges are simply prohibitive. Australia would take our hay and chaft" as it takes our butter and cheesp, but for the excessive railway freight to the port, which just makes the difference between profit and loss. And if this is so with Hamilton and Te Awamutu, what will it be when the railway shall have been opened thirty miles further, to Te Ivuiti, if the present mileage system of rates is continued? Why, altogether prohibitive to the great majority of produce which is grown upon a farm. As Mr Vaile tersely put it, we must have an end to differential rating and the mileage system. That is a matter which goes without saying. With what then shall we replace it ? Their is before the country no other system of railway policy than that propounded by Mr Vaile. That gentleman has thrown down the gauntlet any time this last three years, and challenged any one to produce a better system. None have done po, nay, more, noile of its opponents have brought forward any other scheme, good, bad, or indifferent, and therefore we say, in the interests of settlement, which the present system is sapping to "its foundation, in the interests of the colony, whose railways are neither paying directly nor indirectly, let us haye this scheme of Mr Vaile's placed beyond the pale of debitsable ground, and either shown to be faulty and inconclusive, or, its genuine character having been established, giveu a fair trial. Such a tribunal the petition now issued by the New Zealand Railway Reform' League asks for, and asks no more. A Royal Commission impartially constituted would give Mr Vaile a fair but searching examination, and w« in Waikato who have enjoyed more opportunity than those elsewhere of hearing the scheme explained in detail, and who, almost to a man, have been sooner or later converted to its belief, have no fear but that its author, when coufronted with the searching examination such a commission would exact, will be able to hold his own. We call therefore upon the settlers of this district, which has again stoutly advanced to the van in the battle of Railway Reform, to bear themselves with stout heart and ready hand. The success of the cause is a matter of almost life or death to the successful settlement of a district such as this, situated so far from a port. What' shall it profit our settlers if, to save a little cost and trouble in this matter, they stand idly by and see their properties yearly decreasing in value, settlement retarded, their profits eaten up by the cost of carriage, and their number gradually wasting away, till in another five year's 'the census returns shall again show, as recent returns have shown, the increase of population of the district to be actually less than the natural increase by births alone.

Ouit attention lias been called to the, important changes advocated in Wellington in regard to the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Association. If we are correctly informed, there are two distinct courses advocated. The first, that proposed by Mr Bell, is that the sole control of the institution should' be handed back to the Government. The other course is advocated, we' understand, by Mr Shannon. It is that the control be taken out of the hands of t^ie Government by the policy holders electing a majority oi the board. In our opinion both of these, courses ;«& very objectionable, but especially the latter. There can be no doubt that the great success of the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Association is to be ascribed to the fact that it is the only life association which enjoys the privilege of a State guarantee. This has been admitted even by the Australian Mutual Provident Association, and therefore to in any way menace this State guarantee would be disastrous to the institution itself, and" moreover would be a breach of faith with the policy holders. If this control be taken out of the hands of the Government, then the Government would be justified in recalling the guarantee, in which case the association would retrograde into an ordinary mutual life insurance company, and policyholders would thereby lose the only security which has induced the majority to elect to insure with the Government Life Insurance rather than with the Australian Mutual Provident Society, which has so,signally eclipsed all other associations of the kind. We believe in the policyhplders having an appreciable voice in the management of the affairs of the association, and therefore would not advise the control to be handed back entirely to the Government ; but it would be worse if the Government control were done away with, as in that case the guarantee would assuredly be done away with also. Policy-holders should express their opinions fully in this matter, and it is for this reason that we would arouse their attention in time.

Wast of space prevents onr commenting on the Financial Statement in this issue, but we would draw attention to tho admirable character of the document, and to the hopeful tone in which it h written. With tho various matters i eferred tv we shall take occasion to deal another time.

The honour conferred upon the Premier is of course a compliment to the colony, and ns such we ought to bs gratified. Without in any way derogating from the merits of Sir Robert Stout, we are bound to say that thrt h'taonr conferred upon him has been dpnipd to men, if no more worthy, at least mpro deserving by renson of the length and quality of their service. Sir Robert Sh'iits name ought to have come after those of l< »ir Harry Atkinson" and "Sir Joba^rycts"

Fighting has taken plact along the Turco-Greek frontier, but all is now quiet again, and Greece U disarming. The death is announced of Profcrtsm Yon Kuticke, known to famo as the author of tlw Hilton of the Popes.

Mr J- D- Wrigley, of Tauranga. wiu accidentally drowned last week while pninir to Motiti Island, in company with Mr Jas. Hum.

The Queen's Birthday in Auckland waa celebrated by a volunteer review in the Government House ground*. Nearly 800 mtn were on parade, and tht customary dilutes were fired. , " t

A meeting of Home Rule Sympathisers was held in Auckland on Monday night. The chair was occupied by Mr G. M. Reed, and various resolutions expressive of sympathy with the movement and thanks to Mr Gladstone were pained.

} {William Rawland has been committed for trial at Gisborne, for the murder of a man named Neil, The murdered man in hiu dying deposition stated that Rawland shot him. Prisoner declared that deceased had committed suicide, but the medical evidence contradicted this.

The following will represent the Hamilton East v. the Cambridge East District High School on Saturday next at Cambridge :— Seddon, Hume (2), Nickiason, Yon Stunner, Sage, Edwards, LeQue^ne, McGlashau, Vincent, Gjllett, Hunt, Nelson, Cockhead, Gelling. Flay is expected to commenco at 2.80 p.m.

Severa} complaints have reached us as t<> the condition of the mam road between Tainahero and Cambridge. The roud in placen in very bad. Smno time ago a maintenance contract was let, but this umh afterwards thrown up, as the contractor's father, Mr James Forrest, was elected on thebmrd. The bad weather 'in approaching, and it ia a pity something has not been done.

A man named Robert Miller was charged at the Police Court, Hamilton, on Tuesday, before Mr Northern/^ R.M., with stealing a riding whip, valued at 10s, the property of Mr Jas. Wiseman. Accused pleaded that he found the whip, and the Bench, taking int r i consideration that he had been locked up since Saturday, let him off with a severe caution.

We hear there is likely to be a scrutiny demanded in connection with the Hamilton Road Board election on Monday lost. The Te Rapa ratepayers are not satia6ed at losing the services of Mr John Kidler on the board. The grounds for demanding the scrutiny have not been made public, but it appears Mr Ridler ought to have had recorded against hid nAlne the same number of votes as Mr Atkinson, namely, 15, that in to say if the voters stuck to the ticket. The scrutiny no doubt will clear up the mystery.

The following are the results of the concluding events at the Te Awatnutu races on Monday :— Sei,mxo Hack Race of 7hovs. ; 1 mile ; weight, lOat. *Bix entriei. Mr Millan'n b q Rangi 1. The winner, after brisk competition, was knocked down for £17 lO.< to Mr Win. Searancke. Consolation Handicap of ssov«. ; 1 mile. Mr R. Brownes c h Kenilworth, aged, 9st. 31bs., 1; Mr Wahanui's b q Zulu, aged, Bst. 3lbs., 2 ; Mr Giveu's b q Tyrone, aged, 7st., 3. These were the only entries. ,

At the R.M. Court, Hamilton, yesterday, before Mr Northcroft, R.M., William Munro was charged with using language calculated to provoke a breach of the peace towards one James Goodwin. Mr Hay appeared for the complainant, and Mr O'Neill defended. The evidence showed that on Saturday last, while Goodwin was riding iv a dray near the railway station, Munro called him offensive names. His Worship inflicted a fine of 20a, and costs £1 15s. Several small civil cases were also disposed of.