RAIL AND BUS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 64, 12 September 1924, Page 8

RAIL AND BUS

SLOWER HUTT-PETONE-. r WELLINGTON.

; & PROTEST AND A REPLY

"jfr. E. W. Cozens, Petone, writes as is.\ovt& to "The Post" :— "?J A combined Jius. and _ rail- ticket I is-, sued by the Bailway Department came into force on Monday, between Lower Butt, Petorie, and Wellington. *''Anything in the shape of reduction oflths present charges _-thaV,Huttites; arq; compelled to pay: fortransppriation, back and forth between their homes and the city must be welcomed, and taken as the precursoripf^niore; sane arid. just, .treat-: irient being meted out' to" them'in "the . future. . .-,.,■...■■■ . . ,::,„.-. ... "£'But, surely, this latest scheme cannot be classed as one of unmixed bless- ■-. : ing to the large and growing! population ■■.'of;the Hutt Valley. "•■.■■'-■';_:•■•.■■■.-• ■"■'-."; 'Rather it savours of spite indulged' in* by the Department against enters prise that has recently. started catering to, the public need : per motor buses,; and which, judging from: the ..patronage giyen .trhem, l ,.is,r.ecogr)is§d assupiDlying awiong-felt want that should never have existed'at* all. had the Minister and his .Department treated this, the best'divi-' i dend earning section/of railway iri New Zealand, with' anything approaching, fairness in tho matter of fares and concessions.::; Instead of which the: resid- . ents of-Petpne'and.'Lower Hutt-—com-posed mainly of working people—are mulcted in the cost of making'good the/ . railway, deficit that; goes on increasing ■upon non-j)aj'abl6 lines in other parts of th>Dominion. ■■ .■'-.- 2J'-Years ago, tho Department, in. its ■wisdom, did away with the-fifty-trip ticket, that had served the people's requirements fairly ;■ well> . though representations have frequently been made Wging.,that,the plan .be. reverted to, and .-"*ll? system of; weekly; .tickets abolished, '■and in its place concession tickets avail- '■ ?J? c- untii fullyTsed, similar to those i&uee upon city trams, be.issued by'tlie Railway '^Department .for \all suburban lines, the official-reply'.has-always been' inithe negative. , - . . vjJ'Tho injustice of this latest innovation of. .so-called shopping■'. trains, must be? apparent tpn any .^unbiased : person ■who realises, that it. simply means giving portion of residents who are not workers in the economic sense, but who reside on the bus line,1 a" bonus of Jwepence per return trip over the legitimate worker who is compelled daily to use the. earlier trains, upon which no, reduction :is announced."