RAILWAY REFORM: MR PRICE WILLIAMS' OPINION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2287, 8 March 1887, Page 2

RAILWAY REFORM: MR PRICE WILLIAMS' OPINION.

TO THK KDITOII. Sir, —I have read with considerable astonishment Mr Price-Williams' letter. It semns to me a thing incredible that Press representatives and reporters, the gentlemen at the Chamber of Commerce, those to whom he spoke privately on the matter, and myself could all have, been mistaken as to what he .said in this city. He certainly conveyed a very different impression to that made by reading his letter. On such a subject it is, however, possible, for a misunderstanding to arise.

Mr Price Williams s| eaks of my system ;is complicated. Tin's is a new charge, and clearly proves that he does not really understand it, for it is scarcely possible for anything to be more simple. Any ordinary boy of ten years could read and understand my tariff. Before the committee, in a frightened sort ot way Mr Maxwell and Mr Hannay sought to make it appear that it was not more simple than the present plan; but at question 541 Mr Hannay made tho following slip :—Mr Maxwell -. "Is not the English system made, more extensive by more varied traffic ? " Mr Hannay : " Yes ; that is so ; and when I commenced in New Zealand our tariff was a very simple one—'very nearly a« simple as Mr Vaile.'s. , " This in unwilling testimony to the simplicity of my plan. Mr Price-Williams now says that my system is " a system of differential rates in disguise," I certainly have never attempted to disguise the fact that I propose to charpre a loss rate per mile for the 'distant portions of the lines than I do for the portions near to the centres of population. This is the essential feature of my plan ; tho one thing on which I pride myself ; but there will be no power given, as there is now, to railway officials, * to alter and vary rates practically as they choose. In fact I claim to have discovered a .plan by which all the advantages claimed for the differential rating system can be obtained without taking with 'it* its attendant vices and disastrous consequences. From the letter before me I am driven to the conclusion that Mr PriceWilliams advocates an even milage rate throughout. This astounds me ; for I thought all students of this subject knew that it would be an absolute impossibility to carry on the business of the world under such a system. Some advantage mu3t be given to long-distance traffic ; for it is evident that if the rate were ever so low—■ say, a twentieth of a penny per mile—goods brought 1000 miles could not compete with those carried 10 miles. What I have sought to do is to accomplish this by fixed laws, and not by the whim of a railway official ; and I have many times stated that the only choice open to us is between such a system as I propose, or a further extension of the differential rating system.

Mr Trice-Williams says -.—"The effect of a differential rate, with greatly reduced charges for long, as compared with short, distances, although undoubtedly it would greatly assist in promoting settlement in the agricultural district* of New Zealand, would at the same time tend, as all experience in railway traffic shows, to dcvelope still more largely the traffic to the great centres of population." This is a curious paragraph. Mr Price-Williams here distinctly states that the effect of my plan would be to largely increase both country and town trade. As regards commerce, what more do we want? Is not this the end for which we are all working ? $fe itoc Price-Williams is a little unhappy' in his illustration. He says that when -the British Government took over the telegraphs 25 per cent, of the telegrams went to London, but that now 33 per cent, go there, or an increase of only 8 per cotit. ; but he entirely forgets that during the same period of time the population of London has increased 55 per cent. His illustration, therefore, instead of proving; his position, proves the soundness of mine, which is that averaging rates has the effect of distributing, not centralising. Notwithstanding Mr Price-Williams' known position as a civil engineer and a statistician, it is very evident that he has not studied the " railway problem " with the cure and attention it demands from all those who would obtain a mastery over it.— I am, &c., S.uiuic'h Vaile. Auckland, Ist March, 1887.