RAILWAY STATION RIOT.

Mataura Ensign, 29 December 1911, Page 6

RAILWAY STATION RIOT.

TRAINS GO 20 YARDS AN HOUR. Another riot was caused at the Saint Lazare Station yesterday evening by the habitual unpunctuality of the Stateowned Western Railway (stated the Paris correspondent of the 'Daily Mail,' telegraphing on November 16). Driven to exasperation by the icy draughts sweeping through the station about 500 suburban ticket-holders who at 6.45 were still waiting for the St. Germain train due to start at 6.25, made in a body for the administrative offices of the line. Luckily the police station was next door and the policemen on duty were able to bolt the doors of the offices, which were surrounded by an infuriated crowd shouting ' '.Resign! resign!" The mob surged round the doors, the glass panels of which were broken with walking-sticks. The providential arrival of the missing train put a stop to the disturbance. A kind of competition is in progress in the newsps.pers to discover the slowest rate of transit recorded by the goods service of the Western Railway, which is in the most deplorable state of chaos. The record is held by a consignment of eggs, which was transported at a speed averaging 20 yards an hour, that is to say, the goods truck took 12 days to go from Garenne-Bezont to the Batignolles goods yards in Paris. A snail farmer living on the Western Railway is credited by the 'Liberie' with the intention of despatching snails to Paris "on foot," as he is convinced that in that way they will arrive sooner than if sent by train.