SPECIAL TRAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21717, 5 February 1934, Page 8

SPECIAL TRAIN

PARLIAMENTARY PARTY JOURNEY NORTHWARDS MANY SLEEPING CARS SEVERAL NOTABLE VISITORS What is believed to be the longest train composed of sleeping cars ever to leave Auckland was despatched at 10.30 last night for Opua. It was a special train conveying members of the Legislative Assembly and House of Representatives, with their wives, to the celebrations at Waitangi and was tho longest all-sleeper train that has ever travelled north from Auckland.

Included in the Parliamentary party were five New Zealand Ministers, tho lU. Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister of Finance, tho Hon. 11. Masters, Minister of Education, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe. Minister of Defence, the Hon. C. E. Macmillan, Minister of Agriculture, and the Hon. A. Hamilton, Minister of Employment. Distinguished guests travelling with the party were Sir Murchison Fletcher, Governor of Fiji, the Hon. F. H. Stewart* Minister of Commerce in the Australian Federal Government, the Hon. It. W. D. Weaver, Minister of Health and Works in tho New South Wales Government, and Sir John Sandeman Allen, member of the House of Commons. Mr. Stewart and Mr. Weaver will be the official representatives of their Governments at the celebrations. One Hundred and Forty Travel

The number of passengers on the train was about 140. The train itself consisted of 12 cars and one luggage van, and was drawn bv two engines. Eight ordinary sleeping cars were used, the others being the Vice-Regal car, the Ministerial car, the general manager's car, and a cruising car, tho last-named being the one used by the Duke and Duchess of York during their tour of New Zealand. Including the. guard, engine crews and attendants, the personnel of the train numbered 16. The personnel of an ordinary limited express is about four or five. A Deserted Platform Although the departure of the train provided an unusual spectacle of Sunday night activity at the station, in so far as there is normally no traffic through the station at that hour on a Sunday, there was none of the hurry and bustle that marks the departure of an ordinary express. The platform was comparatively deserted as the train moved out. There was no throng of friends waving and calling "goodbyes" and no crush of people returning through the barrier. Most of the blinds of the coaches were drawn, so that once the train had left the platform lights behind it, it appeared to be almost in total darkness. The train will reach Opua at 6.52 a.m. to-day. and after breakfast the travellers will be taken by launch to Ti Point, where they will be given a reception by the Maoris.