RAILWAY REFORM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2306, 21 April 1887, Page 3

RAILWAY REFORM.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln reading the letters of Mr Russell and other writers of lesser merit upon the above subject it appears to me that there are some points upon which I should make my meaning clearer before leaving for Wellington. Thoy are as follows :— Ist. I thought myself justified in applying the proposed scheme to the Auckland section of our railways, and arguing upon it only, because the League had intimated their willingness to accept a trial upon it as a sufficient test of its practicability. 2nd. I would point out that the figures given by Mr Russell referring to the increased traffic required were also given by me. The only difference between us was that I followed them up, whereas he stopped short at the point where they ceased to suit his argument—that is, as applied to distances over 100 miles, and to purely upooantry stages within that distance. 3rd. That, although excursion trains at low fares have been successful and are useful, it has been clearly shown that it would | not pay to run them even once a month, to say nothing of daily. Besides, the main attraction to the great mass of these using them is being able to return the same day, and not only the cheap fares. 4th. It is worthy of note that Mr Macandrew's motion did not even find a seconder in the Parliamentary Committee. More than this I do not care to say in criticism of the action of a man who is gone, and for whom I had a strong personal affection. I may add, however, that he strongly approved of the much-abused proviso, saying that under it the whole colony could adopt the scheme if it liked. sth. Mr Russell also gives a long list of. the benefits which he thinks the scheme would confer upon the community.' Perhaps, however, he will permit me to say that merely doing that does not prove tha£ they are likely to be realised. The relative importance of other, and infinitely stronger influences must first be considered.

6th. I desire to point out that I did not say that all the stages between Pukekohe and Auckland—3o miles and under— r woiiu; bear their own weight. What I did say, plainly enough, was that the whole journey to Pukekohe—or indeed anywhere aver the 10 mile distance, might perhaps do so.-and I gave my reasons. ,-. ■ .'-,■:■ On these distances, (over ten miles and under 30), the returns show th|t .an increase of 3 to 1 is required with the present proportions of first and second-class fares, and if two firsts were taken for one second,' then still 21 for one were required". • Now, I think, for the reasons given in my former letter, that this increase might be realised, although I hardly think it likely. However, as there was a doubt I, following my usual practice, gave the scheme the, benefit of that doubt.

I went on, however, to say that under ten miles I anticipated a loss, and I gave my reasons—the very fact that so small ah increase is required shows that there is but' little inducement to increased traffic.

It follows, therefore, from this, that any use of my own words against me on this point must first be based upon a misrepre-; sentation of what I wrote. Also, any argument based upon the average increases required over "all" the stages'under 3ft miles is beside the question, and has no ; bearing upon my argument whatever. In fact-, it is simply repeating the fallacy which underlies and vitiates the whole theory «f the "shilling average fare," viz., ignoring the fact that these increases must: be distributed in given proportions over. the : different distances in order to bring about the desired financial result.

As regards the expected increase in first class travelling, one would naturally expect it to be very great were it not for the fact that all experience in Europe goes to show that the great majority will travel at the cheapest rate, even when the saving is only a few pence, or even fractions of pence. I admit, however, that the increase would be considerable, although it certainly would not nearly approach two firsts to one second. •

As regards my action in the .Parliamen-; tary Committee, all that I have to regret is that in my anxiety to secure for the views of some of my constituents full consideration, and to have the subject fully ventilated, I kept' my own convictions too much in the background and acquiesced in a report which was at the best—like most matters ..political, —a compromise (inasmuch as the prevailing discontent and other outside considerations were permitted to affect a report'which should have been made, whether favourable or unfavourable, upon the merits of the scheme itself solely). For this the thanks; I have received are abuse and misrepresent tation.

However, the best reply to that, if indeed any be needed, is the letter which appeared in your columns from Mr Mitchelson, chairman of the committee.

As regards my making class distinctions in my proposals, I am quite willing to admit the soft impeachment so long, as they continue to be in the direction of favouring the poorer in preference to the .richer classes.

In concluding this letter in the interests of genuine railway reform (which I have as much at heart as anyone), I have something to say to my friends on the railway league and to the local bodies who, I "understand, contemplate getting up fresh petitions to Parliament praying for the adoption of this "scheme," and it is this— I think it would be much wiser on their part (if I may venture to advise them), were they to confine themselves, to'praying for reasonable and attainable alterations in our. railway management rather than constantly agitating for the adoption of a particular "'scheme," which, however many friends it imay have in Waikato, has very few elsewhere. In fact I might fairly add that so ■strong is the feeling against this scheme ■• in; most parts of the colony that in my opinion ■ the friends of genuine reform, while endeavouring to use this as a bridge towards their object, are really erecting an obstacle in their path.—l am, yours faithfully, J. B. Wm-TE.

Hamilton, April 18th, 1887. P.S.—Since writing the above I gather, from your columns of this morning that I am asked, Ist, What U a mile but a stage? Precisely; what is it? It is a stage, and a more convenient one to handle, because it is small and of uniform length —they are* both simply units, which carabe treated in any way you please. <'<■' •;- This question aptly shows. ; the: absurdity ;•)£ all this agitation about aieature ot no importance; and yet this is-the change,' cm \pled with low fares, which is fco effect such' a revolution. Cheap farea : «an ba applied to either unit without difficulty, and to the smaller one without many anomalies. management is just as possible -under either system. ■ f 2nd, I a.Ti asked to prove /that a certain proportion of two shilling fares ate required to bring the ones' up*to an average of one shifting. ■•■"• ■■>••• 3rd, I am askfcd to prove that adding two four-penny stages to one malcartbree. Surely this sufficiently indicates that the time has arrived for this discussion to eeaag! Yours faithfully, Ji B. Whyte. Hamilton, April 19,1887. ';

TO THE KDITOKi : Siß,--Tfl rightly understand Mr Vaile's average fare theory. I think there is a fallacy in it, inasmuch as itdoeg not take into account unequal distribution _ of population. It requires the increase of traffic to be in inverse ratio to that of population. Thus, as expounded by Mr .Russell his letter to you of 19th inst.,-Mr Varies sclieme requires an increased traffic of, "up to 10 miles, li for 1 now ; up fco 50 miles, 3 'for 1 now; over 50 miles,- 6 for I now. 'This is clearly requiring'an increase tff 'traffic in " inverse" ratio to that of population. ■'■•..• : By way of illustration, s"ay that on the first 10 miles there is a population of 40,000; on the next 50 miles, a population. of > GOOO; and beyond that a population Of 4000;; and that 25 per cent of the population travel. Then, on the first stage, w&. WHY have' now a' trafficof 10,000, which mustinereasft to 15,000. This is possible. On the second stage w& will have now a traffic of 1,500, .which must increase to 4,500; this requires that nearly the whole population travel. 'On; the third stagiftwe will have now a traffic Jof 1,000, which must increase to 6,000, a half more than the whole population of the.district. Well, districts Nos. two and thneg.must do their duty. Mr Vaile expects it, although it must be admitted to be rather hard on number three. Every man and mother's son in it must travel, mothers and daughters too, down they mu4 go, the whole of them once, and the half ot thejn twiee, there is no help for it, the average iare muefc be got. But I fear I am at ,the ireductio ad absurdum process again which is in disfa-vosuMvith Mr Russell. Well, he anust excuse in«v for I really can't help it. It is not my fault but my misfortune. There is. something caitehing in the average tfare theory, but I am afraid it is not exactly : according to Cocker. Traffic always 'bear something like a true ratio to population. There are other adveraa jc«ud,iljicina be-

sides the distribution of population, if that u not enough. There are the items of time lost, and expenses incurred over the above fare. In long distance travelling these may be rated as as at least equal to three times the reduced fare.

The Railway Reform League is doubtless right in agitating for reform in our railway administration; but, in my humble opinion, it is wrong in insisting on a trial of Mr Vaile's scheme. Those in favour of it can but say the result is doubtful. Many think the result is not doubtful, but certain to entail serious loss ; and worse than that, to indefinitely postpone, or altogether furstrata the attainment of the end in view.

Another reason I have for thinking that a trial of their' scheme should not be forced on Government is that it deals only with passenger traffic. This is a matter of comparatively little importance to us up-country settlers. We do not want, and could not afford, even with much reduced fares, to be running often down to Auckland ; and, if we want, we can generally avail ourselves of the cheap trips. But we do want to be continually sending produce to Auckland and elsewhere if freights would admit of our doing so profitably; and to get up what we want at cheaper rates. If Mr Vaile will furnish us with a seheme'not giving merely doubtful promise, but something like a certainty of such a result, it will be time to imperatively urge it on the Government. Considering the patriotism, courage, capacity for work and pertinacity which Mr Vaile has shown, and the amount of knowledge of the subject he must have acquired, I think it is within the bounds of probability that he may be able to do this. It would serve his purpose to avail himself of all the lights that may come to him from criticism adverse or favourable, anc(,,,, altogether to drop controversial asperities. To aid him in the work it ; might be well for the League to insist upon Government furnishing Mr Vaile with such data as he requires for dealing with the goods traffic. Perhaps this could be better accomplished by getting him into the House. If the member for Waipa cannot be induced to re-offer himself this might be .accomplished; The " Major, of course, would not be so unpatriotic as to stand in the way. Mr Whyte is by far too valuable a member to be thrown overboard on such a doubtful issue.as that of the soundness of Mr Vaile's Railway Scheme.—l am, yours faithfully, Novice. to the editor. Sir,—Once more I crave your indulgence, to anticipate any criticism from Mr Vaile or his supporters on my hurridly-written letter to you of the 15th inst. By the way, I like to anticapate if is only in paying a bill. Like Mr Vaile, I-believe that the critical state of the country and the reckless way. our railways are managed, need reform and at once, but at the same time I believe that no legitimate Government in New Zealand, having the good of the whole 'colony at heart, could entertain his proposals for a moment, except on the basis offered to him last session of Parliament, namely, you can have a trial of your system on a section of railway if the people guarantee any deficiency. Now I say to • Mr Vaile and his supporters, that was a fair offer, and if you your scheme, as you say you do, why don't you accept it? Now listen to what one of Mr Vaile's disciples' said to me the other day on that subject :—" Oh no, that would not be fair, because we would be trying an experiment for the whole' colony." Now, I say that is sufficient to convince any mind, endowed with common sence, that Mr Vaile's scheme should have been buried when the Government offer was refused. Another of his supporters said to me : " Mr Vaile is asking for more than he ever expects to get." Now I say that is wrong, and he would have saved the country a lot of expehce if he only put forward a scheme that was workable.' Mr Vaile's scheme is all theory and conjecture, and reminds me of the story of the man who had four fowls laying an average of 24 eggs a week. He increased the number to three hundred. The consequence was, the fowls being enclosed, died of disease and vermin, and. he got no profit, only a heavy loss. That was theory. Now if that man [had'had experience he never could have incurred any loss. One more illustration. Some years ago I saw a man ploughing with a team of horses. Now, I said to myself, I could do that. I asked the man leave to let me try. What was the consequence? My ribs bore for a long time afterwards the.marks inflicted on them by the handle of' the plough. So much for theory and experiment. Now, Mr Vaile or his supporters never can convince me that you can carry a passenger from Pukekohe to Te Aroha or Patetere for 4d or Gd and make it pay, but bis advocates say, never mind about the paying part, we want to open up the country, and get more farmers, which are the backbone of the country. Yes, and they are like every other backbone, —there is very little meat left on them, and if Mr Vaile's scheme was established they would not be worth picking. More production, more grain and beef; if the colony cannot consume it send it to Auckland and ship it to foreign markets.—l think the present farmers of Waikato know what that means to their cost. A manager of a large state not 100 miles from Patetere was heard to say the other day that it cost a land purchaser seven pounds to travel from Auckland to view the section and return again, and it was an impossibility to realise on that account. Now Mr Vaile proposes to carry a pa'ssenger from Pukekohe to that property for about 6d ! Pleasant thought! Does he want to induce the Pukekohe setttlers to emigrate to that estate, and so make a nice business in settling new churns at Pukekohe? We > all know that new chums as a rule don't like going far from population. Or, perhaps he wants to make Pukekohe a sanatorium for invalids. They could enjoy ft; trip toTe Aroha and back for Bd. Now the fact is'that the whole country wants to sell, and what I say to every Waikato elector is : Don't let them sell at your expense. Their lands are a drag on their hands; they made them so ; let them keep thorn and work them for your benefit as ratepayers, and their loss. There is an old saying that no one is more competent to give advice than those least likely to receive it, On that account I exercise that right, and say to Mr Vaile and his supporters, "Throw up your spheme, and come forward with something practical, apd you will find Waikato ripe for reform in railway management. Now, I said at the time of Mr A. V. Macdonald's removal as manager of the Auckland railways that Auckland and 'Waikato people lost a good man, and would find it out, and that they never understood him. By the way, he was no favourite of mine. Ije kept a shilling a day from me that I was justly entitled to for three years, and the present manager, when auditor, got it for me at onoe. Now, the fact is he wag a hard-worked man, and lie believed in others working too, I have known him in the early days of our railways to be selling tickets at eleven o'clock at night, a porter's work, to keep down expenses. He performed the duties of three departments, namely,' traffic, locomotive, and permanent way. At the present time Mr Hudson manages the traffic, and Mr Ooom the locomotive and permanent way, each of those gentlemen having a staff of clerks under omb nf them. Prior to his removal it was a welUknoiyn fact that he could not get engines or trucks sufficient to keep the permanent way in proper repair, and had to bear abuse, which should have been directed at Wellington. In fact, it seemed to me at the time that Mr Maxwell wanted to jam him up, and so show some cause for his removal to make way for his favourites; you got them and you have the result. They removed goodsheds from where they were useful to where you could not get at them; they chained the lines and put white pegs a-fong them to amuse you on your long journey so ' Auckland ; they created an enormous amount of wnrjf in the station offices,'more books, more forms, fco amuse the stationmaster while waiting to take your sixpence'for a parcel. In fact, they wanted a large staff, and did not believe in the public seeing them idle. For five years I performed the duties at Hamilton station iingle-handed, when all the outlying district? paroPithere for their goods. The line since has gone to Cambridge and Morrins; ville,. and all ftafc trasc peaked when I left, arid now we find at the present; t.fme a stationmaster and porter at tb.afc statwn, and the question arises, How js this ? The answer is, "Books, books." Go into that office any time during working hours, and you will find the stationmaster occupied with books, and the porter very often assisting wr#f in fact, you would think that you w'eje jn 3, banker's office, where they were dealing hundreds atfd thousands of pounds instead of w>e'few paltryjwnds that are taken every qay. Nov/, £ siay OWtfa/tft egotism, remove those surplus books and £orms, and I .could perform the dut,ies sjngle.-handed apfl have gix half holidays in the week, and Sunday thrown in. I eonsGienitjousy believe that the stationmaster earns his money, hup ajt your expense, and why should it be so ■? This is one of the evils which you want to get rid of. I throw this out as a hint. I ,do.n'fc wjsk to give you auy more without

making you pay for it, but I will say that I believe I could stand before a Hamilton audience for twelve hours without wearying them or myself in enlightening them, and at the same time amusing them on the way our railways are governed.—Apologising for trespassing so much on your space, I am, yours faithfully, J. E. Butler. Hamilton, April 18th. ———■■— - ■ ■ " Where were you engaged last ?" asked a San Francisco lady of the new coloured cook. " Yer oughten' ter ax me dat, ladyi" "Well, I want to know, as it may tend to give you character." "Wall, lady, I was engaged ter Bob Phillips, de triflingest man I ever seed. Why, lady dat man stole my yearrings and runned away ? How many times was yerself engaged, lady ?" ; As to Conversation.—Bishop Thirlwall was deaf. Although deafness interfered with his enjoyment of conversation, he. thought little of his loss. Once when lie was walking in the road, a friend who knew perfectly well the bishop's infirmity remarked, "It's wet, my lord bishop." "Eh ?" repeated the bishop. " It's wet, my lord." "Eh?" repeated the bishop. The observation had to be made several times before the bishop could catch its meaning. . " Strange how little one loses by being deaf?" he exclaimed.

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