THE RAILWAYS AND THE HOLIDAYS.

Press, Volume XXVI, Issue 3495, 17 November 1876, Page 3

THE RAILWAYS AND THE HOLIDAYS.

TO THE EDITOB OF THE PRESS.

Sib,—l like holidays. My grandfather was the Bndolph of onr family in this respect. The failing—if snch it could be termed—originated with him. Hie father was a real home bird, who quietly and patiently plodded himself into the possession of a small estate. My grandfather, with equal persistence and lees patience, wriggled himself as surely oat of it. Amatenr coachmen were-in their heydey in. his time. He waa one of the first. of the craft His delight was to tool the " Upton Highflyer: ,, The tnrn-out was a fast one, cattle and coach were his own. Hie life was a perpetual holiday. I have his whip, with "the crook and the old trumpet, in. my possession now ; they look rather battered and seedy, not unemblematical of his own fate. He died in a sponging house, he was a bird who cqjuld not brook a cage, Hβ survived hie misfortune only a week. His hobby ac to holidays is very pronounced in hie race. I myself am an item in every crowd ; a regular " ballist," whether private, or more prominent at the cost of a board of directors, or even a field day with an interprovinci&l team. I respect whatever tends to bringpeople together, and the railway comes in for part of my admiration. .Whatever is done I like to see done on a grand scale, and in this respect the railways, like my grandfather's coach, have to be "tooled"l»ysomebody. I owe & quota of gratitude to the leading reia

of that large concern, for the excellent errangeia&Qte which marked the holidays and which culminated so admirably on Friday evening alongside the Gladstone wharf on the occasion/-of the entertainment on board the \£aitangi. I consider myself a judge in these matters. I have done little else during my whole life, but to note men and manners, and as an habitue of the world, if a degree were to be given, I have no doubt I should be nearly top-sawyer. My experience of life has been a verification of Solomon's apophthegm that " as iron sharpeneth iron, so doth a man the countenance of his friend." But I must confess that I hate detractors, considering them to be the corse of a crowd ; though I must confess that there is a certain spice of enjoyment in their company in the little coteries of a small town. There are many each in the colony. The frog who would be a bull is too manifest in colonial life, but cynicism and gluttony carry their own punishment. As surely as discontent and jealousy are the out come ;of ambition, so surely can the latter see nothing beyond its own portal. Let a neighbour start Venetian blinds, envy discovers them to be faded. Poor Christcburcb. with its holiday week, could not even pass. I say I like holidays, and I like all that promotes them, and I must own to have a great regard for our railway manager, Jbe cause he introduced a new feature in our carnival programme. Holiday - makers hitherto only had the privilege of return tickets to Ohnetchurch ; on this occaeion the same facility was afforded between any station and any station. Timarn appears to cavil at this arrangement. Instead of an admiring crowd, the frog found itself deserted even by its own adherents. " Christ, church triumphant, Timaru abandoned," is really the diatribe chanted by the Southern journals at the close of the holidays. One remarks that it cannot compliment the authorities of the Christchurch railways on their arrangements for conducting the extra business of the holidays, and condemns the inconveniences; consequent upon the crush on the return journey, and so forth. The manager is thus made the scapegoat, and I cannot compliment the organ alluded to on the shortsighted policy it has evinced in endeavoring to strangle thie concession of cheap travelling, which is for the good of the whole of Canterbury. Its logic has only one conclusion. The convenience of the many is to be sacrificed to the comfort and luxury of the few. No reasonable person expects perfection in railway arrangements on festival occasions; bat what is wanting in refinement than compensated for in the happy faces and free and easy abandon of the masses., The question is, shall the Government sacrifice the concession alluded to above, and forego these cheap arrangements on future holidays, to the detriment of the province at large, in 'order: to satisfy the superfine requirements of an exacting. few, as enunciated by their Journalistic representative? Had tie crowd consisted of visitors to Timaru, a little jostling and inconvenience wonld have been considered of no moment whatever; but as the> crowd consisted; of residents returning from Christbhurch, it was at once voted a nuisance, and the machinery that brought it together everything that was bad. Yours,&c, BUTTM CUIQUR