RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume C, Issue 29436, 11 February 1961, Page 7

RANDOM REMINDER

MINUTES FOR REFRESHMENT

The move towards better service on the railways service on the rall y> s has much to.commend it, but there will be some doubts about the proposal to introduce dining cars in > t place of refreshment rooms. There are a few practical difficulties, too. Will rail-cars, for instance, be able to serve a cosy little lunch in the compartment at the rear which the driver uses w’hen the rail-car is going the other way. or will a dining car be hooked on? That will mean first gear work on the Staircase, say. and no saving at all on the run to the West Coast. But a more serious obstacle arises too. How. it may be asked, can the All Blacks ever hope to regain the world crown if one of its most valuable

training fields is abolished. It has not been said before, but it is now, that the battles of the All Blacks are won on the playing fields of New Zealand railway platforms. Here can be seeij the elusive Elvidges, the gapfinding Hotops, the deceptive pace of the Vincents, the lumbering gait of the Clarkes, the sheer speed of the Jardens and the delicate footwork of the Dixons only a brief second after the train has stopped, spilling its occupants, who are already running at top speed before their feet have even hit the platform. Some are off-side, having leapt out before the train stopped, but they were lucky in not being seen for the penalty can be very severe. In the refreshment room, the forward element

comes into its own. A Skinner, elbows out, thrusts his way through l the scrummage at the counter, a Young hooks back pies and tea and they are deftly caught by a Duff, arms upraised and feet six inches off the ground. There are forward passes, knock-ons and knock-offs, marks are I taken and given, penalty kicks and free kicks are exchanged and barging is I also countenanced. Dining i cars, of course, might make it easier for women and children to eat while travelling, but then most i women seem to prefer • their own cut lunch to railway sandwiches and pies. And unless dining i cars can provide better > fare than the present rer freshment rooms, there t w'ill not be much point in t having them anyway.