OFFICIAL LAXITY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 4, 30 May 1883, Page 2

OFFICIAL LAXITY.

Says the Wans;anui Herald: — "The Hon Major Atkinson missed the train at Foxton, through the coach not arriving m time, but he used the telegraph wires, and had a special sent out for hia convenience, arriving m Wanganui at 2 o'clock this morning. Strange to say the special did not bring the mails. This is how the money goes. If a member of the Grey Ministry bad done the like of this what a hubbub there would have been." We did not think of this before. The Colonial Treasurer's special train should certainly have taken the mails. It did I not matter so much so far as Palmers ton was concerned, because the 8.55 train next morning brought our portion ; but the residents northward of Halcombe, right on to .New Plymouth, were deprived of their southern mails for the day, because the Colonial Treasurer was such a weighty load, we presume, that the special could not carry anything else. It is a wonder two engines were not despatched, one before anl one behind, to complete and expedite his trumphal progress, like a fiery comet through the night. We dare say many a business man between this and New Plymouth blessed the carelessness that allowed a special to depart without the mails, when they could have been shoved on board while the Major was lighting his cigar and buttoning up his top coat preparatory to entering the state carriage. [The Wanganui Chronicle says that it was owing to the neglect of the Foxton Postmaster, that tLe mail bags were not put m ihe train, the excuse being that there was no luggage van attached to it ! And adds : — c< We presume that some official inquiry will be made as to why no mail was carried m the special train on Monday night, especially as Major Atkinson himself believed that the mail bags were m it, and was surprised to find on arrival m Waoganui that they had been left behind.""]