MAIN TRUNK TRIALS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 48, 26 February 1923, Page 7

MAIN TRUNK TRIALS.

(To the Edl'or.l Sir, —In occasional travels between Auckland and Wellington I have discovered the need of the following improvements:— That a person reserving one seat and occupying another ii order to monopolise two seats during the.journey in a possibly crowded train should be made to pay two fares. That a passenger already in occupation of an unreserved seat should not be called upon to vacate it for a new arrival who wishes to reserve it. That the ladies' compartment, through which other passengers are forbidden to pass, should not be placed in the middle of the train. That the refreshment room system should be placed under strict inspection and made adequate, wholesome, and uniform. That the existing seats be abolished and replaced by others calculated to give greater ease to sleepers. I have noticed that some passengers make a practice of reserving one seat and occupying another during the rush periods in order apparently to reserve an empty reat alongside or opposite for greater comfort during the night. The double fare threat would effectively stop this. When a passenger occupies an unreserved scat he should not be asked by a guard to move on so that a newcomer may reserve it. This is annoying and unnecessary, and treats _ the occupant as a passenger of inferior rank— quite a needless addition to the trip's already full cup of irritants. It is possible the ladies may not like to ride at either the head or the tail of the train, but the presence of the sex bar at the middle of the train has sometimes distressing results. I have seen passengers from a refreshment room joining on at the back of a train and find themselves unable to pass through the ladies' ear to reach their seat at the front, having therefore to wait tediously till the next stopping place. To say this is a warning to them not to mount at the wrong end of the train does not answer the difficulty, because of the existence of a further grievance, namely, the slow service at the refreshment counters. The serving staffs are deplorably inadequate, causing a person to wait inordinately for even a cup of tea, with a danger of missing the train (which sometimes moves out with sinister stealth), or of leaving a drink or a half-eaten sandwich still on the bench. The refreshment rooms, I understand, are all under Government control. Yet there is an amazing lack of uniformity. At some refreshment counters the edibles are restricted and unattractive, the tea over-stewed or insipid, and the slow service maddening. At others there is a satisfying range of goods to eat, but in all the waiting is apt to be over-slow. I suggest the local caterer in charge be kept Btrictly to a uniform system as to the variety and quality of the food on offer, and rapidity of service, and that an inspector travel on the trains to see to its observance. The present confusion is a shocking disgrace to our country. The Health Department also should be

asked to take an interest in these feeding places on account of their vaet opportunity of spreading disease. At one rather important place—l purposely omit names because I wish to attack the system, not the individuals— the lady who seemed to be in charge had a habit of licking her thumb each time before taking up a paper bag, and then using the same thumb to pick up [eandwicbe*. She looked » iealthy cub-

ject, but imagine with what speed an influenza or typhoid or diphtheria epidemic, for example, could travel down the Main Trunk 1 Such things should not be possible under a Government which has any self respect, yet on that occasion the" onlookers included jume observant American tourists.—l »m, etc., A. G. SAINSBURY.