The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1927. FEWER RAILWAY PASSENGERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 2 June 1927, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1927. FEWER RAILWAY PASSENGERS.

Delivered every evening .by 5 o’olook in Hawera. Manaia. Norma.nby. Okaiawa. Eltbam, Mangatoki, Kaponga, . AU'-»n Harleyville. Patea, Waveriey, Hokoia. Whakamara. Obangai, Meremere. Fraser Hoad and Ararata

Tho problem which faces those whose responsibility it is to maintain the popularity of tho railways as a means of passenger transport, is strikingly brought before the public by the latest official returns announced from Wellington which show that, compared with the figures for the corresponding period of .1921, there has been a falling off in the number of ordinary passenger tickets issued during the twelve months just ended of over five millions. It is i true that since 1921 a new schedule of season ticket rates his been put into operation, and that the family ticket lias also made its appearance, but no j consolation is to be gained by the Department from consideration of that aspect, for the latest returns show that the increase in season tickets for the period mentioned is only some 119,000 — a total which cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be regarded as a satisfactory off-set against the huge decrease of five millions in "ordinary” tickets. The Press Association message from Wellington which conveys this information in a bald paragraph adds,

for flic information of any persons who may -wonder w T hy the State-owned railways of New Zealand are decreasing in popularity with the travelling public, not by steady retrogression, but by leaps- and bounds, that the falling off is ‘ ‘ attributable to motor bus competition. ’ ’ However, it would appear that the motor-bus is not alone responsible for the situation, for as far back as 1916 the railways carried four million more ordinary passengers than they did in 1927. Bus services wmre not operating in 1916 to the extent they are to-day, and the figures would suggest that it is to the privately-owned motor-car that a large share of the responsibility must be allocated. Since 1916 changes have been made in the methods of the Bailway Department which the most enthusiastic “efficiency expert” would not have believed possible eleven years ago; drastic changes have taken place in the personnel of the management, and the whole policy of the railways, under Mr Coates’ direction as Minister, has undergone such changes that in many respects the service can scarcely be recognised to-day as the same which, has served New Zealand since passenger train services were inaugurated in this country. But the introduction of a new and business-like spirit in the railway service has not been able to make the public resist the lure of the comparatively new method of transport by ear, and in spite of all that the Department has done it finds itself at the end of a five-year period in the position of having to admit that, notwithstanding the increases in population and all that has been done to popularise travelling by rail, the number of persons who so travelled this last year was five million less than that which travelled on the State-owned lines over a similar period six years ago. This does not mean that there is any fresh reason for attempting to stampede the.public into a panic with the cry of “sell the railways,” but it makes very obvious the conclusion that the near future holds problems for the people and for the Government in respect of the sphere of profitable usefulness upon which the railways must concentrate and lends new weight to the advice of those who have contended ever since the motor car became a factor in commercial transport that the needs of the future entail the expenditure of more money on roads and less on railway construction.