THE STAR. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1887. RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1627, 17 May 1887, Page 2

THE STAR. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1887. RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

It being comparatively easy to find fault with people or systems and infinitely more difficult "to go and do or devise better, it has been our aim to avoid casting blame even on the much abused railway department. On Friday last, however, in a paragraph we mentioned complaints which had reached U9 of unusual delay in the delivery of goods. The sources from which the information was derived seemed unquestionable, aud came from several apparently quite independent sources. Nevertheless they appear to have greatly misstated the facts. InBtead of the steamer arriving at Patea on Friday, she really landed the goods so far, so we can loam, on Monday after midday. Instead of the goods not being delivered at Hawera until Friday, as stated, they were all checked and deliverable before midday on Thursday, and instead of the goods being delivered on the authority of the boat notes, the waybills are said to have been available in each case. At first sight there would appear to be three gross misrepresentations in the errors set forth above. But " Truth lies at the bottom of a well " as the Spaniards say. It seems that one of our informants knew that the boat was due at Patea on Friday ; he did not hear of or know of any cause to delay her, and he, as well as others, asserted that she had actually arrived at Patea on the previous Friday as ex pected. He was mistaken, no doubt, but made no wilful misstatement. — In the second count, one consignee sent for goods to the railway station on Wednesday evening knowing that several truckloads had come to hand by the midday train, but failed to get them ; he sent again early on Thursday inorniug, but was told they would not be ready for some hours, and being unable to send again that day, so far as he was concerned, the goods were Dot receivable until Friday morning, although he might have got them later in the day on Thursday. As to delivery beirg given on the authority of the boat note, evidence is available that this was not so. But consignees are to be excused for believing this to have been so, seeing that they were in some cases asked to present their boat-notes, before delivery was given. The railway authorities wishing to have the boat notes for the sake of checking some of the way bills in which the entries were not clear. It is not denied that they mighteven have told the consignees that the way bills were not to hand, in order to save time in explanation. We regret having been influential in giving currency to statements which after careful enquiry prove to have been inaccurate We regret it partly because it was unjust to painstaking railway officials who seem to have worked hard for the public under circumstances of unusual difficulty; but partly also, because it has greatly weakened what, we still regard, as a good case. From Monday afternoon to Thursday near noon, seems to us undue delay. Storekeeper on the Plains were erroneously advised by wire on Tuesday that that the goods had that day been forwarded to Hawera by rail. On Wednesday they came for what was urgently wanted. Six trucks came up by the mid-day train on Wednesday, but it was nearly noon on Thursday before the carters could take delivery of the goods. This in itse'f was a severe trial of patience and would excuse some hard grumbling. The railway staff had, in addition to its ordinary duties connected with the receiving and delivery of goods on the arrival and departure of trains, an unusual quantity of goods to handle. Nearly 1500 packages, equal to eighty-six tons of goods, arrived from Patea on Wednesday by the mid-day and eight o'clock traina. The way bills received at Hawera were not quite clear, owing probably to the railway men at Patea being both of them new to the work and not well acquainted with the different brands and marks. This necessitated extra care on the part of the Hawera stationmaßter, who would himself lrnve had to be responsible for and make good the loss of any miscellaneous case of goods mis-sent or abort delivered out of the whole consignment. Extra care iv delivery and

checking after several previous unusual delays in arrival of steamer and in railage of goods from Patea to Hawera necessitated further delay. And we do not therefore wonder that the patience of more than one consignee broke down, and that they sought relief and expression of their grievance through these columns. All are agreed that the Hawera stationmaster and his men work hard and do their best to serve the public faithfully and well, but the public contend that there must bave been more than one screw loose last week, either in the system or management or both. Because they agree that it is not unreasonable to expect goods landed at Patea to be delivered at Hawera within 24 instead of 70 hours of their landing at Patea. If a larger staff or if a better time-table is needed, they rsean to hammei away till they get it.