RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31868, 21 December 1968, Page 27

RANDOM REMINDER

ALL ABOARD

It has long been the custom of New Zealanders to rebuke and revile the Railways Department, although by and large it gives a very good service indeed. The paying passenger and the critic on the platform sometimes do not appreciate the difficulties with which railway staff have to cope. Take the late departure of the express for the south one morning this month. It did not leave until 8.55 p.m., some 15 minutes after the scheduled time, although to the unobservant it might have seemed that

all the passengers were comfortably seated, and that the egine staff had remembered to bring their coal, etc. It was a dog which caused the delay—and no ordinary dog. It was an enormous Alsatian, with a leash and a fearsome array of teeth, and it was clearly the intention of the group surrounding the dog to get it into a van, and just as obviously the wish of the loudly-barking dog to stay on terra firma. For a considerable time, it seemed that the men, obviously animal - lovers, did not want to do anything to upset what bad

become, for the time, the C department’s pet. Eventually, a gentleman • in a grey smock arrived, and. If he was bolder than his companions, he did not rush his fences. He stood by the dog for about 10 minutes. So it could become used to him, and eventually coaxed it into the van. Did we hear a smattering of polite applause? A very minor incident, of course; another brief chapter in the railways -. story. But next time you 2; sit waiting for the train to go. remember it. Down at the back, they may be battling with a bison.