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ROAD VERSUS RAIL.
The opening years of the twentieth cen
tury, with its development of Buoh mar
vellous advanoes In every department of
science, have often been contrasted with
previous periods in depreciation of the
maimers and customs of our forefathers.
Yet in one particular we do not appear to
have much cause for self-congratulation,
and in fact seem likely to retrograde to
their antiquated methods, and that la in
the transport of commodities from the
metropolis to the various centres of popu
lation in the provinces. For hundreds of
years our British ancestors were accus
tomed to, if not quite content with, the
transport of goods by packhorses and
waggons, but these have long since been
supplanted by the more rapid and con
venient means afforded by the railways
which spread their iron network over those
islands, and any suggestion that it might
be possible to resuscitate the extinct road
traffic would be treated with amused in- 1
credulity. In the early yeara of Victoria
the same primitive means were adopted,
and the embryo provincial towns were
kept fairly woll supplied, not only
with the necessaries but the super
fluities of life. With the construc
tion and extension of railways this traffic
naturally declined until it seemed as if
the last waggon team had been driven off
the road never to reappear, and none
could be found so daring as to predict its
reappearance. Yet it is a strange and
humiliating fact that, while our. railway
system penetrates to the most remote
parts of the State, the road traffic has not
only been resuscitated, but shows decided
signs of increasing vitality, and we have |
the curious spectacle presented of the old I
waggon teams Blowly plodding along every
main road, with the swift railway train.
rushing past almost side by Bide. A
stranger to Victoria conld not fail to
be struck by such an anomaly, and would
naturally wish to know the cause. The
only answer conld be that it la owing to
the peculiarities of our railway manage
ment, which is supposed to be carried out
on commercial principles, and for the
perfecting of which a supposedly highly
qualified expert was imported from Canada
at a munificent salary to assist, with two
other Commissioners, in placing the rail
ways on a sound financial footing.
This has certainly been done, but
how? By a very simple process, which
requires no expert knowledge or super
human intelligence to carry oat. The
first move was to reduce the mileage, and
this was done to such an unwarrantable
extent that the passenger traffic was
seriously impeded and inconvenienced,
apparently without any definite system
and despite the strongest representations
but little alleviation of the evil has been
so far obtained. Following upon this
was the abolition of the six ton truck
rate, and the absurd system of railway
charges by which goods were charged eo
much to a certain dbtinatio'n, and twice
or three times as much to another but a
few miles further on. All representations
as to the absurdity, as well as injustice,
of suoh a system— if system it can be
called, which is no system — have beenl
treated with contemptuous indifference I
and, despairing of any immediate remedy, I
country traders have been compelled to I
resort to the old road traffic, which theyl
find te be not only cheaper but morel
certain in its operation, especially sb it |
is not subject to the multitudinous and |
perplexlog charges levied by the depart |
ment on various classes of goods. That I
this traffic is growing in favor may be|
seen by the daily journals, scarcely an|
issue of which but contains notices from |
all parts of the country of traders pro- 1
c urine their supplies in this mannnr I
This, of course, must have a depreciatory
effect upon the revenue of the depart
ment, as regards the goods traffic, but
there is as yet no sign of a relaxation of
the absurd and harassing restrictions upon
trade, and the only remedy appears to be
to continue and expand the road traffic
until the extent of it becomes such as to
'compel attention and enforna «
--- uuu ocuniuie system of manage
ment.
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