A HOWLING DISGRACE.

NZ Truth, Issue 91, 16 March 1907, Page 4

A HOWLING DISGRACE.

To a stanger landing m Wellington by the Manawatu train, or one desiring to leave by the same means, the pandemonium that he suddenly finds himself m is. a matter for shocked astonishment. People who have got into ,the howling mob of hackmen,' porters and hotel runners, m New York, might view the disturbance at Mamawatu station ' with a certain amount of equanimity, but to the ordinary traveller who has noli undergone that idreadf ill experience the' grossly indecent spectacle at our local privately- owned railway station is absolutely revolting. Most oi the crowding, jostling, mobbing and shouting observable there every time a train arrives is _ caused by of various degrees, who clamor for custom, mob* and assail passengers, and obstruct the entry or exit of less strenuous citizens. There is no attempt at governing this damnable throng. The railway porter seizes the Gladstone of the well-to-do traveller, obsequiously Steers, him to a caib, hands him m and waits servilely for his tip. But the poor, weak woman, or shabby man, arriving, has to hustle on her or his own account and stand the howling turmoil of the hungry mob, unguarded and unaided. Only last week, & lady, trying to reach the station through this disgraceful mob of hoodlumistish hustlers, was so knocked about and scared that she fell m a dead faint against the legs of an express-horse, whence she was tardily dragged by a humane passer-by, the niob of carriers and ' touts paying no heed to her. Why cannot this railway station be regulated as our wharves are ? It is a simple thing to do, but the manager of. the- Mana-; Watu Railway Company appears satisfied to let things jog along m the old rut, instead <Jf marching with the times. There is no exaggeration m saying that the present condition of affairs at -this station, at traintime, is a shame and disgrace to the community, and some very stringent measures are required, to effect an alteration m the interests of the general public.