SUNDAY EXCURSION TRAINS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 56, 7 March 1930, Page 8

SUNDAY EXCURSION TRAINS

(To the Editor.) Sir,—lt is a matter of regret that at the late Methodist Conference held in Wellington a resolution should have been passed condemning the Sunday excursion trains. There are to my knowledge many country folk who would otherwise be unable through, want of time or means to visit their friends and relations iv the city, and to whom those trains are uninestimable boon. There are hundreds of people unable to afford motor-cars or to pay the ordinary fares to the seaside •who are availing themselves in ever increasing numbers of this means of relaxation and health. Why should these people, because of their straightenedl means, be denied the innocent and health-giving pleasure of sea bathing and picnics which those who are better off can gain access to in their motor-cars? If the excursion trains are to be debarred, logically the hundreds of motor-cars that crowd the roads on Sunday with happy picnickers should also be stopped. Does, the conference imagine, if it succeeds in its object, that these people who patronise the trains will crowd into the churches? May I suggest that if the conference is concerned that these people are neglecting their spiritual welfare that some of the best of • the preachers go with the excursionists to some of the seaside resorts occasionally and hold a brief outdoor service. I feel sure it would give much pleasure to many, and that they would always, at any rate, be received with respect. Let the Methodist Conference, Sir, remember that it is not always; those who are church-goers that are prominent as good livers, and that good health and innocent enjoyment are the necessary foundation of, good citizenß. Was it not the Great Teacher Himself Who declared that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath?—l am, etc., Ngaio, 6th March. X.