SUNDAY TRAINS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19969, 10 December 1926, Page 12

SUNDAY TRAINS.

REPLY TO CRITICISM, A COMPLETE SUCCESS. (Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, December 9. A reply to the criticism levelled against the Railway Department for running Sunday trains was made by Mr A. W, Wellsted, commercial agent in the Auckland diS “The Railway Department does not encourage the running of Sunday trains as a general principle, Mr Wellsted .said. “For many years the department consistently declined to accede to a request from various parts of the Dominion to add to the number of Sunday trains, as such requests did not in many instances represent the wishes of a sufficiently large section f the community. However, of recent years the increase in population and other considerations have shown that in certain localities there is a desire on the part of a substantial, section of the general public to enjoy the comfort of travelling by train rather than by other means. The department considers that, as an institution owned by the people, and created essentially to provide facilities for transport, it is obliged to give effect to the requests which have spread, and now represent the wishes of a large number of people. Many carrying companies have in recent years responded to the pressure brought to bear by the general public, and have instituted Sunday services throughout many parts of New Zealand, rffhese services involve the employment of men, but it is recognised that such Sunday labour is inseparable from any service which is at all times at the call of the public, and is unavoidable if the convenience of the public is to be met. . “That the action of the department in running Sunday trains is appreciated is shown by the fact that on Sunday, November 28, a one-day trip from Auckland to Hangatiki was undertaken by 250 persons, who desired to see the Waitomo Caves. These passengers all expressed their appreciation of being given an opportunity to make the trip. On the same day an excursion train between Frankton and Rotorua conveyed 547 persons. Ihese figures speak for themselves, and are representative of Sunday trains in other parts of the Dominion. The by offering facilities for cheap travel on bundays, is meeting a long-felt want, and enabling a man who could not otherwise afford it to visit some of our pleasure resorts at a reasonable rate. **lt may bG as well to state tnat tne staff employed by the department on Sunday does not work under compulsion. Representations from any member of the service having conscientious objections to being called out to man a Sunday tram would receive the most sympathetic consideration.”