TRANSPORT REVOLUTIONS

Evening Post, Issue 47, 23 August 1935, Page 8

TRANSPORT REVOLUTIONS

New Zealand is being revisited by 'Mr. William Cray, M.A., who lived here in "the early years of ihc century, and his remarks in yesterday's issue are a reminder oC the immense change that has occurred in New Zealand, particularly in roads and transport. To most men of sixty the last thirty years have passed very quickly, and those who have seen New Zealand grow from day to day hardly realise the rale of change. Arid yet it has been amazingly rapid. Thirty years ago there was no Main Trunk railway, and the Ohakune-Waimarino plateau was still in process of conquest by the railway-builders, whose work was not complete till 1908. The main inland through traffic of the North Island was via the Rangipo desert road, and the travel was by coaches. Before the country had really, appreciated the replacement of the horses by the rails, the War came on, then the challenge of rails by roads, and in a few years a people who used to coach with horses through the island had the choice either of railway or of fast motoring. To Taupo in a few hours by road is now a commonplace; and numerous inland journeys take a day thai by horse in the old conditions took a week. All this saving of time is a marvel. The extent to which saved time has been profitably utilised is another question. One result of time-saving inventions is the search for a new invention whereby the saved time may find employment.