RAILWAY SLEEPING-CARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19859, 1 February 1928, Page 10

RAILWAY SLEEPING-CARS.

During the holidays the neglect of the Government to supply sufficient sleeping-car accommodation on the "through" trains between Auckland and Wellington evoked considerable criticism. There has been much room for complaint. This particular journey is long and tedious, and it is the duty of the Railway Department to minimise tb" discomfort entailed. Some credit has been claimed for an improved type of sleeping-car recently introduced, but this avails little in the face of a chronic shortage of sleeping-cars, whatever the type. This shortage is no recent experience merely. It has long persisted, and there has been no adequate attempt to overcome it. The fact is that the department has utterly failed to keep pace with requirements. A sound policy would have been to provide sleeping accommodation a little ahead of the average demand, in an endeavour to attract patronage by offering increasing meansi to avert the irksomeness of the journey. The building of more sleeping-cars would have proved a good investment. Parsimony may be carried to an extreme where it becomes wasteful, and the department has been guilty of this sort of bad business. As a special instance of the ill effect of the inadequacy, the impression on visitors from overseas ought to be noted. Good travelling accommodation and plenty of it would encourage them to speak well of this land's attractions, whereas any lack in this respect is bound to be used in dissuading others from coming. That the Government has a virtual monopoly of the means of travel between Auckland and Wellington should not lead it to give a minimum of attention to the comfort of passengers, Rather should this circumstance strengthen the claims of its duty to make the journey as comfortable as possible for as many passengers as it can serve. It should take speedy steps o remove the reproach. The unpleasant experience of many during the holidays has but made widely scandalous a condition of affairs existing, more or less, all the year round..