MR VAILE ON THE TARIFF FOR GOODS SATES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2352, 6 August 1887, Page 3

MR VAILE ON THE TARIFF FOR GOODS SATES.

TM the course of Mr A aile’s address at Kanghiri on Wednesday evening, alluding to the question of freight charges, which many people in Waikato look upon as of more, importance than the reduction upon passenger tares, he made the following remarks, in which lie demonstrated that the first reduction must he made upon fares before the question of lowering titrates could become feasible ; --1 <e said be had steadily declined I" lay down a tariff of charges for goods traffic, because he could not obtain the figures necessary for the calculations, lint his system was as applicable to goods as to passengers, and wa, mended so to bo. M lion the time Cainn lie would produce a tariff of goods ■rates, lint he simply refused to he entrapped by the Kailway Department. At tins point fie wi-tiod to say be was not thrrtt f-G inturferu in any way with t*in election of Waikato and Waipa. He Would not presume to dictate to the electors, or even suggest who sliould receive their suffrages. That was for them to decide, it was for them to say what they wanted. Ifo was there to explain his system of railway reform, and lie asketl them to send in men to help him. If they thought his system right, he wanted their help; if not, they would of course decline to assist him. They had all been feeling the depression for years past. He had seen this coming on five years ago. I here were two things to help them over it. (1) io settle the land; (2) to lower the cost and increase the facilities of transit. All wealth came from the land, or from thoapplicalion of labour to tbe land. We must spread the population over the country. Next, we must provide means for producers and their stud to ho moved about. He proceeded to trace the depression to the poverty which is felt all over the world. It was not caused by free trade or protection, as countries where both systems were in operation were affected, nor by lovo of drink, nor appreciation of gold. It was caused by the absence of purchasing power on the part of the people. Thu railway question was at the bottom of it, for population was being massed in big cities all over the world. If the starving millions of Lngland and other countries had money to buy food there would not he over production nor a depression. What caused that depression ? He held nothing bnt the piling up of population going on. owing to thc railways. London had only .started growing so fast since the jlirmingham railway was made. The distant man, 128 miles from his market, could not compote with the man at the door of thu market. Hence everyone crowded round thu centre. That was why Waikato farms were almost valueless : the producers were too far away from their market. The same applied to passenger fares. The factory owner and his operatives must all squeeze in, to save freight and cost of transit. There was only one way to prevent this piling np of population, and that was to annihilate distance, as far as possible, which his system was designed to do. The countries of the world would never prosper till this was done. Factories must bo located in rural districts so that in slack times the workmen would have pints of land of two to ten aeies to live on to occupy them. His contention was that the railways are. the highways of the nation ; no Government would try and sell or lease the roads, so neither should they try and unfairly handicap those who used the railways. The depression in New Zealand was largely caused by railway mal-administration, and ho wanted this remedied. Referring to his system, lie said thu rates and stages would of course be adjusted after each census, and as the stages increased in number the cost per stage would be decreased. After a time, when population was diffused over the country, the stages would bo decreased in number, and they would gradually approach the universal fare system; bnt that was a tiling of the future. The railways now were not run to benefit the masses, but to return dividends, and they claimed the right to charge whatever the traffic would bear—that is, take all they can ; bnt he held this was wrong. A large inland town in Waikato would benefit Auckland ; and under the stage sgslcm, instead of having a few big cities, they would have a number of large towns all over the colony. Prosperity depended on the power to move. They must make the means of communication as complete and perfect as possible. He denied that the suburban and rural districts would be depreciated by this system. Hairy farmers and others would be forced outwards, bnt the ground they now occupied near the cities would be built on, and house sections of five, and ten acres would be common, instead of quarter-acre sections as now.