WELLINGTON NEWS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 March 1926, Page 3

WELLINGTON NEWS

• O RAILWAY BUS SERVICE. (Special to “Star.”) WELLINGTON, March 8. Oamaru, Christchurch and Dunedin are to be catered-for by the Railway Department shortly, in the way of buses. In embarking on this new experiment, the Department is seeking t? popularise and assist railroads as a means of passenger, transport, and is to run buses in connection with cer-

tain lines not proving satisfactory from the revenue point of view. The buses seat twenty-five to thirty passengers, have an emergency door in the rear, and four wheel brakes, being run on the pay as you enter principle. This is the first step of its kind undertaken but the Department will extend it according to results achieved. Considerations actuating the. Department on applying the service are the productiveness or otherwise of local railway services, public demand and the need for boosting up the use of the iron road by the public. The decision to utilise buses on routes where frequency of stops bv passenger trains retards speedy service, is, justified by the advantage of the more mobile bus unit with smaller

maintenance costs, on runs where frequent stops are made. The Railway Commission in its report last year, recommended the use of a well organised fleet of road motor vehicles, the alternative being a combination on mutually advantageous terms between the motor owners and the Department. This is the first trial of combination with private enterprise in relation to the distribution of passen-. ger traffic. The principle has been applied successfully In regard to the distribution of 'goods?

ELECTORAL ROLLS. •The Electoral Department recently prosecuted a husband and wife. who were convicted and ordered to pay costs as a warning to electors generally that they must obey the provisions of the law in regard to compulsory enrolment. It is announced that the Department is preparing to circularise all suspected defaulters. Newspaper criticism against the Department was made, that one case was taken to Court, whereas everybody else is to have a second- chance to comply with the law. The Department points out that in the case referred to, the police had certain information which enabled them to prosecute without the Department officers sending notices to the persons concerned. The policy was, Wherever possizjle, to secure registration without resorting to prosecution. It was regarded as only fair that reasonable notice should be sent setting out the requirements of the law. If the notice was . ignored, then the police stepped in and collected the required information whethei’ the person concerned should be enrolled. They issued a warning, and prosecuted subsequently if necessary. An army of officers was • maintained at considerable expense for the purpose of enrolments, and increasing the number of officers in proportion to the population increase would involve greater expense. To drop the system suddenly, without making it the electors’ duty to register, would lead to many hundreds of electors in each electorate being left off the rolls. The general election 1925 rolls were compiled under a system of compulsory registration with the result that over ninety per cent, of ’ registered voters exercised their right / as electors. It had been admitted by ’ all parties that the rolls had never ■ been so reliable and up-to-date on any previous occasion.