CHILDREN ON TRAINS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23088, 13 July 1938, Page 17

CHILDREN ON TRAINS

i Sir, —Having been in close connection ' with train pupils and ex-train pupils for several years I wish to .reply to the letters of "S.K." and "Safety First." If they expect a carriage-full of echool- ; boys to sit about like young gentlemen watching the every-day scenery flash by, 1 would certainly say "God Defend j New Zealand." If they were able to travel in a carriage where schoolboys j were like that I'm sure they would see what 1 mean, but as this was, is, and 1 i hope always will be, impossible, it I will have to be left to the imagination. I "S.K." states that horseplay and noise often prevents conversation, j Probably the railway officials were aware 'of this many, many years ago when some of the prominent men in New Zealand to-day used to travel to school by train, and for that reason supplied a special carriage for the sole use of school children, leaving the passengers free to converse in other carriages. "Safety First" writes "I marvel that there have been no deaths." I could quite understand him marvelling i years ago when this method of conveyance started, but after realising that children have been travelling for so long and no accidents have occurred, [ he should stop marvelling and realise that they are not as reckless as many I people think. * In short I should like to point out that this "horseplay" has been gointi on since children started travelling to school by train, windows have always been broken and passengers always complaining. 1 know of people in positions in New Zealand and England who were always in trouble when at school through their behaviour on the train. Human Nature.