THE THROUGH EXPRESS TRAINS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13410, 30 April 1909, Page 5

THE THROUGH EXPRESS TRAINS.

TO TOE KDITOE OP 'THE PRESS." Sir, —The Miubusr of Railways has notified Mr Bitxton that the through GxpiLbs trains will nri. be allowed to stop at Oiari, as requested, and his decision will be received with great regret and dissatisfaction througlioiit the districts affecad. In his r*»ply he states that tho di-cLsion to omit Orari was only arrivvd at after mature consideration of tlio whole of tho local condition-? prevailing. Sow, i venture- to say that if Mr Millar had permitted tho deputation which was appointed by a largo meeting at Gcraldine to wait on him, they could havo brought very forcible arguments to prove that whoever is responsible for tho new arrangements knows very little about tho requirements of this particular district. The deputation were prepared, at thoir own cr.yitise, to go to "Wellington to meet Mr Millar, if inconvenient to him to meet them elsewhere, and ono cannot help surmising that the reason of their not being allowed to <!o so before he came to a final decision, was that the Minister of Railways thought that any arguments that might have been cdduced to Ret tho train to stop at Teimika could be brought to bear with greater force with respect; to Orari; and hero I would cay that the people of Goraldine do not wish to interfere in any way with tho facilities that Temuku. has b?cn fortunate, enough to obtain; but Orari, being approximately half way between Timaru and Ashburton, does servo the largest district not reached by these two centres. It has been freely stated that had this district returned tho old Government member, Orari would never have beon omitted from the list of stopping places. This is possibly so, but I cannot hold with those who think Mr Millar would bo a party to depriving any community of its rights simply on this score. In my opinion, sir, tho reason is to bo found in tho fact that ho has no local knowledge of tho district, ami has been bediy advised. Had Gorakline had the branch railway, which she should have, and Orari been a junction, no doubt tho trains would havo stopped. But because she has not got this connection, tho railway authorities have lost sight of the fact that Orari is none tho less a junction, and a very important one, though tho journey has to be made to Geraldino in coaches. It is not likely that an attempt to side-track Geraldino is going to be allowed to pass without very determined opposition. Tho volumo of business conducted there is much greater than in most towns of similar size. Iti stock sales are amongst the largest outside of Addington.' while apart from business considerations, it is becoming ono of tho most favoured residential districts in South Canterbury. . Whether the railways should be run for the benefit of tho pernio as a whole, or for the convenience of a few tourists, is a mntt-rr of poliov I need not dwell on; but it is pertinent to remark that one of the conditions claimed for tho fast services is the quick despatch and receipt of ma.il3. Well, sir, Geraldino fjots tho Christchurch "Press" and her letters at 2.30 p.m., and has no mail on the snmo day by which she can rcrtKto them! I should state that tho mail for Geraldine is stich a bi'lky one that they cannot throw, it off (as they do, I boliovo, at every other ;Btalraniat which tho train does no* stop),; but carry.it on to Temuka, and then send it "on by a slow train. . After carefully considering the circumstances, I am inclined to the opinion that tho trouble might'be met in this way: Let the down express stop at Orari. This will afford us an opportunity of receiving and replying to letters, and also allow passengers from Christchurch to return the same day, and will mean, probably, very little alteration of tho time of the train roaching' Invercargill, which cannot be of great: importance, and the up train could—though it would still fie inconvenient—omit Orari. thus allowing it to have full time to make its steamer connection at Lyttelton, which is, perhaps. one that would not admit of delay.— Yours, etc., J. HALING. ■ Geraldine, April 27.