LIGHT RAILWAYS FOR NEW SOUTH WALES. 57 
than has hitherto been in use, has to be provided, they will, each 
of them, have to give way, on some points, for the general good. 
The people of the district to be served must be content with 
slower speed, irregular running to time, less accommodation at 
stations and goods sheds, and notwithstanding getting less, they 
must be prepared to pay more, than those using the main lines, 
to cover the extra cost of working. At present, the people of a 
district, such as those now under consideration, have to pay 
indirectly the coach drivers’ wages, the feed of the horses, etc., 
and the coach proprietor’s interest on his capital, which surely is 
generally more than the modest four per cent. which the British 
capitalist demands; and in the case of goods, they have to pay like 
charges to the waggoner. They may fairly then be asked to pay 
that which, though more than others do on the main lines, is still 
a large reduction on their present charges. Of course this matter 
has its limits, as if too high charges were made the development of 
the district would cease, and the ultimate increase of traffic, and 
lowering of rates to correspond, would never be arrived at. But 
there is certainly a great margin of difference between the ordinary 
road charge of six pence to one shilling per mile for passengers 
and one shilling to one shilling and six pence per ton per mile for 
goods, and the ordinary, or even increased, railway rates, intensi- 
fied as this contrast is by the frequent interruption to road traffic 
by the weather, which practically does not exist in the case of the 
railway. It has been proposed, instead of the people who use the 
line paying for the extra cost of its use, which is of course the 
fairest way, to tax the whole district either by an extension of the 
betterment principle, or by a rate. As to the betterment, as 
applied to the whole district benefited, in most country lines the 
purchase of the land occupied by the railway is a very insignificant 
item of its cost, and there does not seem to be any intelligent 
reason why the district should pay for the land which is a neces- 
Sary requirement, any more than for the sleepers or ballast, or 
any other material which contributes to the result. As to an 
acreage rate, it may be remarked, in passing, that an average rate 
