1.—9.

Sib, — Eailway Department, Head Office, Wellington, 26th July, 1886. With reference to Mr. Vaile's remark in his review of the evidence submitted to the Committee, that Mr. Hudson's previous railway experience is apparently that of a pay clerk only, I have been requested by Mr. Hudson to ask you to be good enough to allow the attached statement of the various positions held by him on English railways, prior to his coining to New Zealand, to be given the same publicity as the statement made by Mr. Vaile. I should be glad if you could see your way to have this statement included in the printed appendix. I have, &c, The Chairman, Vaile's Eailway Committee, J. P. Maxwell, Wellington. General Manager.

" I joined Great Western Eailway in 1870, in manager's office, Chester; afterwards made goods clerk at Euabon, North Wales; transferred in 1872 to manager's office, Chester, where I was respectively, at various intervals, statistical clerk, pay clerk, and relieving stationmaster; appointed in 1874 passenger stationmaster at Birkenhead; and in 1878 stationmaster at Ledbury, with jurisdiction over combined single and double roads there, with three block signal-boxes ; consequently, my experience extends over goods, parcels, and passenger expenditure, and train-running, and, in fact, every branch of the traffic. " I hold testimonials from James 'Grierson, General Manager, Great Western Eailway ; G. N. Tyrrell, General Passenger Superintendent, Paddington ; James Kelly, District Superintendent; P. C. Clensby, Goods Manager; G. C. Grover, District Passenger Superintendent; and from J. Wilkinson, Goods Eates Department, Paddington."

Mr. Maxwell to the Chairman, Eailway Charges Committee. The further remarks by Mr. Vaile, made on the 21st July, speak of the soundness of his calculations, and his average fare of Is. each passenger. His calculations and those of his witnesses seem to be of the loosest description (see Mr. Vaile and Mr. Conyers, 976, and Mr. Edmonds, 999). ,It is laid down that to get three times the number of passengers at Is. will give an additional revenue of £200,000. The numbers and revenue in 1883-84 were 3,272,644 passengers and £321,615, and in 1885-86 they were 3,362,266 passengers and £346,895. Trebling the numbers of passengers in each case and computing them at an average fare of Is. would give £169,282 and .£157,445 more revenue respectively, and not £200,000. These discrepancies are very serious and show that the deductions are very unsound. As regards the remarks about goods-rates, it is desirable to point out that the passenger-return rendered has no bearing on the goods-traffic, and it gives no information of any kind which could enable Mr. Vaile to regulate a goods tariff. He must, therefore, labour under some very serious misapprehension as to the meaning of the. statistical information given on the return. His former statements of his inability to deal .with the goods-rates, vide 17, 99, 122, 545, could not be regarded as affected by these later remarks,, as it must be evident that the return can be of no assistance to any one for such a purpose as he states. 29th July, 1886. ; J. P. Maxwell.

Mr. Vaile to the Chairman, Eailway Charges Committee. Sir,— Wellington, 29th July, 1886. I wish to call your attention to Mr. Maxwell's letter of the 26th instant, as put in evidence for publication, in which, as usual, he seeks to make me say that which I did not say, and to make it appear that I have done Mr. Hudson an injury. The only knowledge I have of Mr.'Hudson's previous position was the information he himself gave to the Committee in question and answer 369 a. I must ask you to be good enough to request Mr. Maxwell to amend his letter, and to quote what I did say and the reference I gave, namely, "The very singular ideas here expressed may be accounted for by the fact that Mr. Hudson's position on the English railways appears to have been that of a pay-clerk (369 a)." lam very glad that Mr. Hudson has been afforded an opportunity of setting himself right. I have, &c, E. Mitchelson, Esq., Chairman, Eailway Charges Committee. Samuel Vaile.

NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS. Summary of Passengers carried on the Auckland Section, under different Stages (Helensville to Morrinsville), for the Twelve Months ended 31st March, 1886.

A. C. Fife, Accountant's Office, Wellington. Accountant. [Approximate Cost of Paper.— Preparation, not supplied; printing (1,900 copies), -73 13s. od.]

By Authority : George Didsbuhy, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBBG.

89

Distances. Total Number of Passengers T t j Be venue. carried at Govern- *"""* a.o.buci.. ment Fares. Number of Passengers computed to give same Revenue at Mr. Vaile's Fares. Equal Numbers Two First-class of each Class. to one Second. Not exceeding 3 miles Over 3 and not exceeding 5 miles .. Over 5 and not exceeding 7 miles .. Over 7 and not exceeding 10 miles .. 55,518* 94,781 90,604* 46,045* £ s. a. 1,215 12 1 2,801 17 5 3,435 2 0 2,144 4 3 59,588 1,30,100 157,176 60,012 55,860 121,975 147,356 56,259 Total Over 10 and not exceeding 30 mites Over 30 and not exceeding 50 miles Over 50 miles 292,949* 75,562* 31,640 24,762 9,596 15 9 8,324 10 10 7,322 17 0 14,665 13 1 406,876 194,445 81,842 134,291 381,450 182,292 76,731 125,900 Gross total 424,914 39,909 17 2 817,454 706,373