LETTERS IN BRIEF

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 73, 23 September 1927, Page 10

LETTERS IN BRIEF

I edeatnan asks why any engineer should be allowed to place a permanent obstruction on such a thoroughfare as the Hutt road, where a pier is now in course of erection to support the girders of the overhead bridge to the Dew tunnel. There is ample room, it is contended, for the pier on the railway side of the boundary fence, and the piers of the present railway bridge should bo a sufficient object-lesson to engineers. A correspondent, "F.J.W.," writes in criticism of the management of the railways. It would be. interesting (he suggests) to have a return of the percentage of officers to men employed. Since the appointment of the Railway Board, officers seem to be everywhere. The correspondent further criticises a recent statement to the Press, by a railway officer, regarding train speeds, and contends that it is possible for trains to run ahead of time if the records are adjusted. Station records ai-e available for check, but how often are they checked with the guards' sheets or against one another? Regarding the suggestion that road omnibuses should bo taken over, he suggests that much has been wasted on steam cars. If the Department cannot successfully handle suburban competition, why tackle'the omnibus? In conclusion, the correspondent suggests that if the employees require so much supervision "and instruction as would appear from the number of officials, there must be something wrong at headquarters. ; . 'As a resident of Oriental Bay, I wish to enter a protest against the manner in which the Roseneath bus caters for passenger traffic," writes "Ratepayer." "I understand it is the duty of the driver to pick up passengers "when required, of course at recognised tram stops; but it is becoming quite a common occurrence for somo drivers to ignore passengers' signals. Presumably the bus is run for the convenience of would-be passengers and tlio Corporation continually tells us the motor-buses are not paying. How can they be expected to pay, when passengers' appeals are ignored even at slack hours of the day?"