SUNDAY TRAINS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 3 June 1925, Page 5

SUNDAY TRAINS.

MINISTER’S POLICY EXPLAINED

IB V TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION TIM Alt U, June 2. The Railway Department’s policy on the question of running Sunday trains was set out in a letter received by the Timaru Presbytery to-day from the Minister for Railways (Hon. J. G. Coates) in reply to a protest by tlio Presbytery. The letter stated that it had been shown that in certain localities there was a desire on the part of a. substantial section of the community to enjoy travelling by train on Sundays rather than by less satisfactory means, and the Department considered that it was obliged to give effect to the request of a large section of the people. Sunday labour was inseparable from any service of the kind, but the 'Staffs employed by th« Railway Department did not work by. compulsion, and representations by any employee with conscientious objections to such labour would receive most sympathetic consideration. The Minister regretted. that he could not accede to the wishes of the Presbytery, but he assured them that Sunday trains would not be provided merely to explore the possibilities of prospective business. The Presbytery expressed regret that the Minister could not see his wav to minimise the running of Sunday trains.