Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING, GISBORNE. MONDAY, JUNE 23 1902.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9460, 23 June 1902, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING, GISBORNE. MONDAY, JUNE 23 1902.

THE RAILWAY

It is satisfactory to find that the Railway Department are prepared to cany on the running of the railway immediately after the official opening, and that a regular service will be forthwith instituted. The timetable, of which an announce ment was made in our last issue, has been carefully arranged to meet the convenience of passengers both to and from town, and should enable the railway from the start to give a very satisfactory service. It is, however, we understand, a purely experimental schedule, and is liable to amendment as the traffic. warrants it, or as the convenience of railway customers requires. The Railway Department, .in setting up shop here, has to begin in a very modest .manner, and to feel its way, as it were, as a prudent tradesman starting in a new locality would do. The Department recognises that the line, to be successful, must be made popular, and that if the passenger traffic is catered for, parcels and goods will follow. It is not expected, and indeed is hardly likely, that, after the first novelty is worn off, the business will bs in any way extensive or even profitable. We fail to see how the railway can pay until it reaches as far as Karaka, but it is a great thing to have a commencement made, for once the line is in operation, we shall have additional arguments to urge upon the Government that its extension be speedily prosecuted until it is brought to the paying point. It is surprising, however, how a railway, small as the Gisborne to Dmtond section is, will draw traffic to itself, and' hw the settlers in its neighborhood realise, appreciate, and utilise its advantages. Experience elsewhere lias shown this to be the case, and it is hardly likely 'to be different here. In southern districts, where there are good roads running to the centres, and where, as at Gisborne, people might expect folk to prefer to use their traps to travel to town, or carts to carry their produce right in to market, experience shows that in the majority of instances the railway is used, and if that be so where the roads are good, how much more likely it is to folio iv in a district siuch as this, where they are atrocious? The timetable arranged will give country folk a good day in town and get them home before dark. The Saturday night service, we should thitnc, will be greatly appreciated by everyone within reach of the railway, and should become popular. The trains are timed to leave Gisborne so that passengers arriving by boat in the morning may have time to proceed to the country. after breakfast, and so that visitors arriving from north in the after-1 noon may have opportunity to take a run in the country and see something of! the richness of the Poverty Bay flat, and the evening return trip is madV so as to fit in with the departure of steamers for South. In the summer months we expect that many people, especially ladies and children, will be tempted by the convenient service to take a run in the country, and Waihirere, or the Ormond Quarry, which is close to the railway, and which, by the way, should be secured to the community without delay as a public park as well as a waterworks reserve, is bcrund to become a favorite Tesort. Then there is the matter of coach and mail connections. We hope that when once the railway is running, the postal authorities will look to ,the convenience of settlers living beyond Ormond by arranging in their mail contracts that connection should be made with the railway. There is no reason, for instance, why Karaka, which is within one hour of the terminus, should not have its morning and evening mail, and the Whatatutu journey should be shortened by the coacbes meeting the train at Ormond. The railway thus can be made to serve the out-districts in some way, even at this early stage. Its establishment in the district is to be greatly welcomed, for it is bound to be a great factor in the'developmenb of the countiy, and creating traffic as it proceeds inland, is sure to bring us progress and prosperity.