INTER-ISLAND TRAFFIC

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20023, 3 September 1930, Page 7

INTER-ISLAND TRAFFIC

SUCCESS OP RAILWAY SYSTEM. In May, 1925, the Bailway Department introduced a system providing for the through booking of passengers, parcels, and goods by rail and sea between stations in the North and South Islands. Prior to that time passengers travelling from one Island to the ot.her had perforce to Buffer the inconvenience of obtaining their boat tickets at one or other of the towns or ports where offices of the Steam Ship Companies were located. Similarly the existing facilities for the through transportation of parcels and goods traffic were not sufficiently attractive to encpiirage the growth of any great volume of traffic between the two Islands. Under the new system these disabilities have disappeared. Passengers from one Island to the other are now able to obtain steamer tickets and berth reservations together with their railway tickets at the station from which they commenced their journey. Similarly a consignor at a station in the North or South Island, by simply filling in the usual consignment note, is assured of the prompt conveyance of his goods to any station in the other Island. ' It will readily be seen that the provision of such a convenient system of communication between the two Islands would be practically assured of sucCe Some idea of the extent to which the railway through booking system has established itself in the favour of the public is gained from the fact that since its inception in 1925, 31,153 passengers and 50,935 tons of goods have been dealt with.