RAILWAYS BUSY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25085, 26 December 1944, Page 4

RAILWAYS BUSY

INFLUX OF VISITORS ONLY MINOR DELAYS Inward holiday traffic reached its peak at the Auckland railway station on Friday night and Saturday morning, when thousands of visitors arrived from north and south by the ordinary expresses and special relief trains. Railway officials in all branches of the service handled the increased volume of work expeditiously. Although in some cases trains were nearly twice the usual length and were filled to capacity, none of them was unduly late in reaching the city, and no mishaps were reported. New records of punctuality for Christmas time, were set by the six expresses from Wellington on Saturday morning. These trains, which with the exception of the limited express, each had 11 carriages, carried a total of about 3000 passengers. Not ono was more than 20 minutes behind schedule at the end of its journey. The limited express was a quarter of an hour late, and the New Plymouth express 25 minutes. Although it comprised 14 carriages instead of. the usual eight and had an extra luggage van, the train from Taneatua was only two minutes late on Friday night. Several minor delays resulted in the Rotorua express being half.an hour behind schedule. It was made up of 13 carriages, and had a complement of nearly 550 passengers. About 300 passengers arrived on time by night's relief express from Whangarei, and 400 by the Opua exSress, which was delayed for 24 minutes uring its journey. On Sunday none of the three expresses from Wellington was more than 20 minutes late.

QUIET PERIOD IN TAUPO FEWER VISITORS THIS YEAR (0.C.) TAUPO, -Monday Taupo has experienced the quietest Christmas for the past four years. Petrol stations, accommodation houses and all stores agree that the number of visitors this year is 50 per cent belpw last Christmas. Even allowing for the fact that the main influx to Taupo usually occurs after Christmas Day, the bookings for both accommodation and transport this year are exceptionally small. Motor traffic is very light. Accommodation is still available in the camping grounds and accommodation houses for any sudden influx of visitors which might occur during the holiday period. Although heavy rain fell all last night, the weather today has been fine and sunny and bathing has been fully indulged in.

NORTHLAND RESORTS MORE HOLIDAY-MAKERS (0.c.) WHANGAKEI, Monday All the holiday resorts in Northland have been well patronised over the Christmas week-end; in fact, accommodation is at a premium, while there are many tents in tho various camping grounds, and caravans are also in evidence to a greater extent than last year. There appear to be mora cars on the roads and more holiday-makers this Christmas than has been the experience since 1940, the year before Japan entered the war. With the general closing down of businss premises on Friday evening, the move to the beaches commenced in earnest on Saturday, and, although showers fell during the day, this did not deter campers from setting out as they had previously planned. * Special attention has been paid by local authorities to the maintenance of roads leading to beaches, and these are generally in good order, as are the main roads, but some of the secondary roads are not up to the standard required. This is the first Christmas that the Kawakawa-Opua-Paihia road has been metalled and opon for the full length, and this road'has carried a large volume of traffic, considerably l reducing the distance that has to be, travelled from the south to northern beaches.. POWER CHARGES REDUCED (0.C.) CAMBRIDGE, -Monday A-reduced schedule of commercial lighting charges has been adopted by the Cambridge Electric-Power 1 Board, the rates being reduced from 6d to 5d £er unit, . Milking motor rates;, have een reduced to a flat rate of 3d. Domestic light and heating charges represent a reduction of Id on the first 12 units, id on the next 60, and a fraction on: the remainder.