MANY TRAVELLERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23615, 27 March 1940, Page 11

MANY TRAVELLERS

RETURN FROM HOLIDAYS BUSY DAY AT STATION " / EXTRA EXPRESSES CROWDED Returning from their Easter holidays, many thousands of people passed through the Auckland railway station yesterday, included among them being about -1000 travellers who came on eight expresses from Wellington. Figures available at the station show that Wellington was easily the greatest attraction for Aucklanders on holiday, the Centennial Exhibition, together with restrictions on the use of petrol, lifting the number of passengers to Wellington far above that recorded at Easter in previous years. Extra trains to and from Wellington will continue to run for the rest of the week. A large number of visitors to Auckland also left for home yesterday. Four trains to Wellington were well patronised, and a relief express running as far as Taumarunui carried many passengers for intermediate stations. Traffic between New Plymouth and Auckland has .decreased slightly since the Stratford line was blocked, but, in spite of the longer trip by way of Marton, trains over the Easter period were practically normal. Apart from Wellington, Whangarei and Opua were two of the most popular centres for the holidays, two fullyloaded expresses roturninjz; from the north yesterday. Among the travellers were about 100 who had attended an Easter camp at Ivaikohc. Compared with last year, slightly fewer people made the journey to Rotorua by train. Most of those away for Easter have now returned home, but others on oxtended holiday continue to make railway traffic heavier than usual. It is expected that for about the next 10 days trains on most lines will be well patronised.

PASSENGERS BY AIR BUSY EASTER PERIOD [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] AVELLIXG TON, Tuesday In spite of a shortage of machines and pilots, a condition brought about by the war. commercial air lines in New Zealand experienced the busiest Easter 011 record. During the holiday period extending from Thursday until to-day four aircraft made no fewer than 105 crossings of Cook Strait and carried 850 passengers to and from Wellington. Bookings were so heavy that air lines were unable to cope with the demand for seats. Although the statistics for air travel during Easter of 1939 are higher than the figures for the present Easter, the 1910 returns show a much higher percentage of trips made and passengers carried in proportion to the machines available.