RAILWAY MATTERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2578, 12 August 1909, Page 5

RAILWAY MATTERS.

PLAIN SPEAKING BY THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS.

(Per Press Association.;

CHRISTCHURCH, August 11. A deputation waited on the Hon J. A. • Millar, Minister of Railways, with a request that the freight on honey and beeswax should be brought more into lino with freights fixed to give encouragement to fruit growers, dairymen, and cheese manufacturers. The Minister said he feared that the fact of a low rate being made for one item prompted the suggestion that rates on other items should also be altered. It was rather difficult to please all; some said that the railways should be made To pay; others that they should be used to encourage settlement, and to cheapen products by means of cheap rates. He could not make any promise that the reduction asked for would be made, but he would look into the matter on his return ,to Wellington, and would see what could be done. He quite recognised the growing importance of the industry, and he would do what he could to assist it.

Another deputation asked that improved regulations should bo made in connection with the running of the Springfield trains. The Minister said that there were many lines in exactly the same position. He was coming to the conclusion that the Department was doing a great deal too much in that respect. The Railway Department in New Zealand did what was not done in any other country that he knew of. It received goods for despatch to every outlying station. In most of these cases the trade only warranted goods being sent twice, or even once, a week. At present it was necessary to have a time-table, and the train had to stop at a station whether there was any necessity for it or not. There were hundreds of stations where, he was satisfied, trade did not justify a stoppage more than twice a week, as far as goods were concerned, and the trucks were left lying useless for two or three days. In this case, however, he would make inquiries on” his return to Wellington, and would see if an improvement could not be made.