AUCKLAND TO BLUFF.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 169, 28 July 1908, Page 7

AUCKLAND TO BLUFF.

THE THROUGH MAIL TRAINS

QUESTION OF THE TIME-TABLE,

WELLINGTON, July 22. In a question put to the Minister of Railways, -.he member for Auckland Central urged the daims of the Auckland Province to have the time-table so arranged that passengers might travel by daylight on the North Island Trunk line. The Minister replied in definite terms. " The North Island Main Trunk Railway was constructed for the purpose of providing the quickest and most reliable means of communication for passengers and mails," he stated, "and I do not consider that such important interests should be subordinated to those of tourists. While this line was under construction it was considered a work of national importance. That being so, it is but fitting that its operations should be arranged on the basis of providing the best possible service for the people of the Dominion as a whole. The time-table indicated in- the Railways Statement meets this requirement. In arranging a through journey of. some 990 miles it is inevitable that aU the localities interested cannot secure the particular time-table they desire; and, as. already stated, the service has been arranged to provide the quickest and at ,the same time most convenient and comfortable service for the people as a whole. . To meet the suggestion that the train should leave its northernmost point in the morning would involve considerable discomfort to through passengers, by reason of the fact that they would arrive in Wellington about midnight, after having > had nearly twenty hours in the train. Assuming that a steamer connection would be made that night, they could not leave Wellington before 1.-30 or 2 a.m., arriving at Lyttelton about 2 p.m). the same day, Dunedin at 11 p.m., and lnvercargill about four o'clock the following morning. . The through journey under ...such conditions, especially in view of the' fact that it includes a sea trip of ten to twelve hours, would be very uncomfortable ; while under the proposed time-table passengers can leave Auokland at night, sleep in comfort on the train in cars fitted for the purpose, have full sleeping time on the steamer journey between Wellington and Lyttelton, and arrive at their destination at a reasonable hour. Moreover, to carry out the suggeistion of leaving Auckland in themorning instead of in the evening would necessitate two separate steamer services between Wellington and Lytteltoni. It is to be remembered that a large portion of this traffic coine6 from business people in Wellington and Christchurch, who are able to attend to their business through the day and travel at night, and the additional expense of providing a separate steamer service would be quite unwarranted. The time-table for the through journey has been a difficult matter of arrangement, by. reason of the sea trip, but it has been considered in 'all its. bearings, and from the point of view of providing the service for which the line was constructed — .namely, the quickest means of communication between distant as well as intermediate points of the Dominion consistent with reasonable comfort for the travelling public. Tourists and visitors will have full opportunity . of breaking their journey and taking other trains that will be available for seeing the magnificent sceneiy on the Main Trunk route.