NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1920 THE RAILWAY SERVICE

Northern Advocate, 20 December 1920, Page 2

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY

MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1920 THE RAILWAY SERVICE

Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper.

Very many people, Aye arc sure, will rend with keen intere.-t the letter concerning the railway service between Whangarei 'and Opua that has been addressed to the Minister of Railways by Mr Yernon Reed. The principal trains on this section, and therefore on the Kaikohe branch, have been running very Into for some time past. The morning train from the North which is timed to arrive in Whangarei at a quarter past eleven has been almost invariably late during the past few weeks, sometimes' being an hmr behind time. On the three clays of the week on which this train connects with the steamer for Auckland :he through pas sengers .must suffer t: .good d'al of inconvenience, and country people who come to Whangarei on business are also seriously affected-by the reduction of the time available. The delays that occur in the running of trains from Whangarei northwards, and what fchey mean to the northern settlers, are described in some detail by Mr Reed, whose recital of actual experiences should convince a far harder-hearted Minister than Mr Massey that. the whole of the North is suffering a very grave injustice at the hands of the Railway Department. Mr Reed, it will be noted, asks Mr Massey to deal personally with the very real grievance of the district. That it is useless to approach the officers of the Department in Wellington is made clear by the letter to which Mr Reed has replied. In that exusperatingly wooden way that so many State Departments affect the officers of the Railway Department declare that the time allowed the present trains is necessary to enable them to perform'work and shunting en route" and that a reduction of the schedule time would "preclude the trains doing the wayside shunting." That, of

course, is obvious. As a matter of fact | the timetable is cut too fine at the pre- * sent tin.c for the work the trains have to do. Strive as they may, the employees of the Department cannot got tin ough tho work in tie schedule time, though the stoppages are so numerous and so lengthy that the trains are able to travel only 12 miles an hour. Surely the Department is exceedingly ill-advised. It declares that goods "can be conveniently handled" by the present service. We cannot imagine where the convenience comes in. The handling of goods makes the trains anything from an hour to two hours late in completing a journey of less than (iO miles, which is scheduled to occupy, about five hours. There is certainly nothing convenient about this service for the travelling public, nor, we imagine, for the railway staff on' the Whangarei section, who must find the delays and uncertainties very, trying. It would be' in Rheir interests as well as those of the public to establish an adequate service fcr passengers as well as a goods service capable of filling the requirements of the district. On the three days a, week on which the steamer, connection is made there should be a passenger train running from Whangarei and one from Qpua. We believe that the traffic would bo sufficient to justify the addition ,of > these trains to the present timetable. The passenger trains should be able to do the journey between, Onerahi and Opua within three hours, and if they did that the public would' use them. The Wellington experts, no doubt, will tell us that tho present traffic does not warrant separate passenger trains, but we must try to convince them that iho Railway Department ought'to be prepared to encourage the traffic to grow. .There would still be plenty of work for goods trains and mixed trains, and the local staff would be able to handle them. with far less trouble than is now ex-, pcrieheed. If the question of train services were discussed with the Minister of Public Works to-morrow nighthe would, no doubt, be willing to assist in making representations to the Minister of Railways. The member for Marsden also should be induced to co r operate with Mr Reed, and all the residents of the North should join in an agitation for a better service. Per-, haps during the recess Mr Massey himself could visit this district and go into this and other matters. He would be a very welcome visitor, and if ho could see for himself what the district requires he would probably do his best to satisfy it.