RAILWAY METHODS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18323, 13 February 1923, Page 8

RAILWAY METHODS.

GROWING- INDIGNATION. PUBLIC FEELING ROUSED. RECTIFICATION DEMANDED. ; Public indignation has been decidedly aroused by the nightly travesty of management displayed at the Auckland railway station as the passengers for the Main "ZsSck express and their friends assemble. The accentuation of inconvenience and discomfort produced by the holiday rush has added many thousands of victims to the roll of sufferers. Other directions in which the service ignores the interests of the travelling public are also the subject of increasingly unfavourable comment. The growth of this feeling is shown by letters from various people who have been moved to amplify the protests already pin 'lo bv tllfe Herald. Seme samples are appended.

SCRAMBLE AT THE STATION " AN INTOLERABLE OUTRAGE." "Victim" writes:— outspoken article on tho gross and abominable treatment of the public at the Wellington and Auckland railway stations will bo welcomed by thousands of your readers. It . speaks volumes for the law-abiding character of our people that the intolerable "conditions imposed by the Railway Department have not produced' many disturbances. The nightly spectacle at tho Auckland railway station of unfortunate women, children, and sometimes invalids being compelled to fend for themselves and carry their own luggage is nauseating to spectators. It is a foul and intolerable outrage to the feelings of husbands and parents, who are herded back like cattle and unable either to pay porters, who are not there, to cany luggage or prevented from themselves rendering assistance, As a war measure it was probably advisable to prevent overcrowding on the platforms on the departure of troops, but under present conditions the proceedings of the department are worthy of Bedlam. No restrictions are imposed, nor ara they in the slightest degree necessary, at. Christchurch or Dunedin. If the Auckland and Wellington platforms are too small, that difficulty can easily be surmounted by making, a reasonable charge for platform tickets. It is ridiculous to expect people who have to earn their living to waste their time in dancing attendance at the railway station in the hope that a condescending official may, under special circumstances as to relationship, age or otherwise, issue a pass for the platform. Many do not know of the existence of such a regulation, and only learn of it when confronted with a barrier. I suggest that the department should obviously do one of two tilings, either: — (a) Provide a sufficiency of porters to attend to all passengers and their luggage, or, if this is not practicable, it should (b) Sell platform tickets at such a price as to prevent overcrowding on the platform. ' v What you, sir, rightly describe as a "daily outrage" has been tolerated long enough by a patient but exasperated public, but officialdom should either alter the present system, or make room for someone with 'Sufficient capacity to introduce another. The blunders of the Railway Department accounted for many thousands of votes cast against the Administration at the last election, and if the Minister for Railways were to hear the abuse and imprecations that are levelled at him daily and nightly at the Wellington and Auckland stations on account of the running soroche insists on perpetuating at these points he would speed' ily inaugurate a system more in consonance with civilised methods, and which is, at any rate, good enough for practically every other railway system in the world with the exception of New Zealand. CHILD AND LOST TICKET MORAL OF THE INCIDENT. "Viator" writes:—My attention has been arrested by the story of the little girl from Ta Awamutu who lost her ticket after making her way on to the Auckland railway station as the Main Trunk train was about to leave. _ There seems to hfcve been a grave dereliction of duty on the part of the officials. Why was she" not) immediately arrested for peing on the platform without colour of right: There is generally a policeman about at that time, but even in his absence three or four porters could surely have secured the malefactor and guarded her until a posse was summoned. Considering it seriously, however, if this incident does not awaken public opinion to some effect then nothing will. Had the child been nervous or hysterical, instead of the selfreliant little person she proved, there is no telling what the consequences might have been. It is easy £o say that a child should not _ have been travelling alone in that fashion. Certainly not, if it could be avoided, but such things are not always avoidable. Had a reasonable system been in forte, her friends could have taken her to tho ladies' car and entrusted her to the attendant, who is retained to be helpful in just such circumstances. As to the action of the officials in dealing with the case—well the most charitable suggestion is that men who are bound round by absurd regulations lose all the faculty for recognising special circumstances when they arise. *' SUBURBAN TRAINS. . SOME RAILWAY CRUDITIES. "Suburban" writes:—lt is not before time that you • are voicing the sentiments of hundreds of residents in Auck' land regarding the railway station and tl^e' system in general. Many will have read 'with keen appreciation and interest as I did your article ' entitled "Railway Crudities," and when I came to the clause, "the railway is not so much a business for the public as merely ,an unfortunate necessity," I could say a hearty "Hear, hear," for I happen to be one of the poor victims for whom it is a daily necessity. I would like a few members of our "taihoa" Government to be forced to travel by the 5.42 train for Papatoetoe, and have to change into that most comfortable and inviting goods train bound for Mercer. I happen not to live as far as. that, but quite far enough for my liking. For to v leave Auckland at 5.42 and reach Manurewa any time between 6.45 and 8.30 is about as much as anyone would wish to endure. This beautiful goods train ;is supposed to be waiting at Papatoetoe when the 5.42 train arrives, but three nightj out of the five of- the week's travelling it is not there, and we never know when it may come along. And what is most annoying is to watch the number of Auckland'bound passengers in the train we have just vacated; These any night can be counted on one hand. Papatoetoe is not the terminus of the. suburban area, and why should that township bo allowed so much more liberal a service than that to Manurewa or Papakura? But, of course, the whole truth is, as you say, the railway is "merely an unfortunate necessity, and riot a business run for the public," Another thing that lias puzzled thousands of passengers and made them boil, too, is —why these suburban trains are so slow. Fancy a tialn running a speed of 15 miles an hour in these 20th century days! It is enough to make any honest right-thinking New Zealander blush.