The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1889.

Waikato Times, Volume 2632, Issue 2632, 25 May 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1889.

Monopolies are at all times a great evil ; when they are agencies for the acquisition of power through selfishness and greed they are simply iniquities. Monopolies are the enemy of honest progress, and disturb the equilibrium of the social system by™setting class against class, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, creating a privileged and wealthy minority at the expense, and to the injury, of the majority of the community. This is one of the most painful features of this end of the nineteenth century ; what first grew into shape as a tumour on the body politic in the United States, has since spread itself, more or less, over many other parts of the world. Syndicates, rings, corners, " bulling " and " bearing " are the euphonious synonyms by which this detestable practice has beeomc familiar to the world. Fabulous riches have been accumulated by a handful of men out of the. concentrated labour of thousands of human beings, who are themselves kept within the grasp of toiling misery and bare existence. In America, what stupendous fortunes have been acquired by individuals under this favoured system of legalised robbery ; single persons having amassed in that country as much as fifty millions of money within a comparatively short period, whilst many thousands of toilers who directly contributed to those, vast stores of wealth, are living in grinding poverty and dirt It seems a curious commentary on the oftsounded praises of the republican idea, a distracting problem to the friends of humanity, that under the free air of America, where it is supposed a safe asylum is found from the social barriers and degrading inequalities of European systems, its democratic institutions have not been able to prevent the astounding spectacle, of enormous and dazzling wealth falling into the lap of a favoured few within a short period to a much greater extent than the growth of private fortunes in Europe after a lapse of centuries. The faults of democracy are great, and experience goes to demonstrate that they press more heavily on the masses under republican rule than under a constitutional hereditary one. The inequalities of wealth, the extensive advantages of a limited number as against the restricted disadvantages of a countless number of another order, arcs giving rise to loud cries for a change

from this condition of tilings. The selfish instincts of men liavo begun to make themselves manifest, nfter the modern fashion we are condemning, in this fair land of ours where we arc endeavouring to build a righteous nation. We have seen various little crops of syndicates atid rings of speculators, with selfish aims in view, spring up amongst us and flourish for a time, only to come to an ignominious end. We have, however, certain combinations which have obtained possession of great commercial interests, of which they are enjoying almost exclusive monopolies. Prominent amongst these (ifc might safely be said they are the most important) is the Union Steamship Company, whoso headquarters are in Dunedin, trlio have for many years carried the bulk of the coastal and intercolonial trade of Now Zealand without opposition, and who have acquired great power and wealth out of the industry of the colonists. The fares and freights charged by the company have always been exorbitantly high, and when compared with the scales rilling in other parts of the world, unfairly high. The Company, however, havo been King of tho Ocean highway and levied tho heaviest toll they could, tho question of justness being an unknown article in their eroed. None others have felt the weight of the Company's monopoly so acutely as llie farmers of Waikato. If anything has tended to sap the success of farming in Waikato, tho differential freights of tho Union Company havo done so. In order to favour tho interests of tho South, with which they are most nearly associatoil, t ho Company havo turned Auckland into an easily ioachod raarkot for Southern produce, against which wo cannot compete; and they also give the Australian markets to the South by charging low freights for its produce, and charging Auckland produce twice and thrice as mush. It has been a mystery to us how Southern shippers could be eon-

gratiilating themselves on the re

turns tlioy have received from Sydney and Melbourne, while our own were deploring losses from the same markets. Tho mystery has been now explained by lcttersinthe Auckland papers from Messrs Ilesketh and Aitken and many other produce shippers, who have exposed the acts of the great shipping monopoly. The Company's conduct in imposing such unjust differential freights on produce shipped from Auckland has nothing to justify it ; it is, on the contrary, characterised by an absence of principle. It is admitted by them, without a blush, that they have inflicted these high charges complained of because the Australian markets were just now high. In other words, they have deliberately robbed the Auckland shippers, and through them the farmers of the North, of the full benefitthey had rightly expected to reap by the state of the Sydney and Melbourne markets. This is an unrighteous monopoly, an evil to the State ; it has done a gross wrong to a portion of the colony, and, therefore, injured the whole. The entire North should resent such treatment; it should discountenance monopoly in any shape by inviting and supporting competition. An opposition line of steamers to Australia has been established, the Ellis line, which should receive every encouragement. It is very young yet, and the powerful and aflluent Union Company will spare no elFort to stifle it out of existence by reducing freights, itc. But, let tho North Island, at least, back up the Ellis line, who charge fair rates and are determined to deal with honour and justice. The pride, arrogance and selfish greed of the Union Company monopoly will then sulFor a wellmerited fall.