Visit of Railway Commissioners

Southland Times, Issue 11900, 23 November 1891, Page 3

Visit of Railway Commissioners

Two of the Railway Commissioners, Messrs McKerrow and Hannay, came south last week on departmental business, and on Saturday, at the office of the District Traffic Manager (Mr Garstin) received the following deputation, representing the Invercargill Borough Council and business men of the town :— His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. H. Hall) and Messrs J. W. Bain and D. Roche (members of the Borough Council), Mr W. B. Scandrett (Town Clerk), and Messrs G. Froggatt, G. Nichol, G. C. Tothill, and J. The Mayor briefly indicated the subjects on which the deputation desired to be heard, the first being with regard to the terminal charge of 2s 6d per ton on goods from inland stations passing over the Invercargill jetty. The Council had asked the Commissioners to revert to the old system, under which 3d per ton was charged, and they had promised to consider the question. The present charge was regarded as exorbitant.— Mr Nichol said the charge was generally looked upon as being prohibitive, and there was a suspicion afloat that it had been put on for the purpose of diverting traffic from the wharf to the lines. He had heard that it was a common practice now, rather than pay the half crown per ton, for goods to be unloaded at the station and carted to the wharf, which only cost from Is to Is 3d per ton Mr McKerrow inquired if the charge affected the trade of the town. Goods by steamers were brought up from the jetty. —The Mayor replied that it affected Invercargill by driving trade away from the jetty, which was owned by the town.— Mr McKerrow said it was quite trne, as Mr Nichol put it, that they were anxious to have as much traffic on the lines as possible.— Mr Nichol said he could understand the lowering of the tariff for the sake of getting trade, but he did not understand the raising of the tariff on any portion of the lines to drive that trade on to some other part, to the injury of the other section. He could understand what had been done between Dunedin and Invercargill and Dunedin and Oamaru in order to meet the competition by sea. There was a great deal to warrant the lowering of rates Si those cases, but here they were going in exactly the opposite direction.— Mr McK.errow said that so far as the charge went, it would have the effect of keeping traffic from eoing by sea, but from inquiries he had made he found that the amount of goods going to the jetty, apart from the town business, was not very important.— Mr Froeeatt said that the double handling of goods and the extra rate were matters of importance to producers and as to the town, if they did not get jetty dues through a falling off in trade they would have to meet their liabilities in some other way.— Mr McKerrow said the matter wonld be considered and a reply sent in due course. Mr Bain brought forward the question of cheap excursion fares on Wednesdays and Saturdays. From Auckland to the Bluff there was an agitation for cheap fares. That was a very large question, which he did not intend to go into on that occasion. What the deputation wished to do was to impress on the Commissioners the desirableness of endeavouring to meet the people to some extent in the way he would indicate. A weekly half-holday was now acknowledged pretty well all over the colony, and the suggestion was that the Commissioners should arrange for special fares on trains out of the towns on the half-holiday, and that they should revert to something like the old principle of cheap fares into towns on Saturday for the benefit of country people coming in on the market day. It was admitted that they had done a little in this way in making a concession on the return tickets, but if the reouests now made were granted it would meet to a large extent the demand of those who were seeking to bring about a reduction in fares, and h« did not think the department would suffer in the least, as the railways would be more largely used At present the people in town did not know what to do with themselves on the half- holiday, whereas if they had an opportunity of going to the Bluff or Riverton they could, in the case of the Bluff at all events, send their families down in the morning, and get down themselves by the midday train . — Mr McKerrow said that with regard to the Wednesday half -holiday, train were run to the Bluff last summer at reduced fares, and that would be done again. It was not a very paying thing, but they did not lose by it— they got sufficient encouragement to go on, and the trips would probably be resumed just after the Phriatmas holidays for three months. W ould that meTt the wishes of the Dublic?-Mr Nichol suggested that a start might be made SoneV.aofMr McKerrow said that if de ; sired a beginning might be made on the ]st Of December. Mr Bain had expressed the opinion that the cheap fares should apply to »U trains going out of town onth.yffeoilday, but that was. a matter wUwa would

require consideration before a decision was arrived at. With regard to the country people it was formerly considered a great concession when the Saturday return tickets were made available for Monday. The Commissioners subsequently applied the system over all the days of the week, and to go a little further was bringing in agam a kind of difference between Saturday and Monday and other days of the week. They thought they had simplified the thing by making all the days alike, and this was virtually a reduction of the fare by 33J per cent., because the return ticket was one and a third instead of twice the cost of the single fare.— Mr Bain said that while the present system suited the heads of households, there were women and children in the country who could, if facilities were given, brighten their lives by visiting the towns. They needed relief from the monotony of country life occasionally.— Mr McKerrow said he was with Mr Bain so far as the sentiment of the thing went, but looking at it practically the matter would require some consideration. He admitted that bringing townspeople to the country and country people to the towns had a humanising effect. Travelling was a great educator. — Mr Nichol said that Mr Bain had touched on a feature of the question that had to a great extent been overlooked. — The Mayor said that last year there was just one train in the day on which excursion fares ruled, and they wanted all the trains to the Bluff on Wednesday to be run at excursion rates, so that families could leave in the morning or afternoon as might be most convenient. — Mr McKerrow : That ia widening it a bit. — Mr Bain : The trains are running at any rate. — Mr McKerrow said thej would have to consider the matter, because it meant an interference with the revenue, for they could not apply the principle here without doing so elsewhere. — The Mayor thought it would eventually pay the department. —Mr McKerrow : With the limited population that is a question. — Mr Bain said that the concession asked was a moderate one, and it would be greatly appreciated. There was a great disposition to travel freely.— Mr McKerrow (jokingly) : I know people like to travel free. (Laughter.) — Mr Bain said they had not bad an opportunity of doing so for a long time ; such a thing perhaps occurred on the occasion of a Governor's visit. The Mayor mentioned the necessity of signalmen being placed at some of the railway crossings in town. Several accidents had occurred, and it was necessary that some measures should be taken to protect the public. He thought the cheapest plan would be the employment of signalmen. — Mr Nichol asked if it would not bo possible for the trains to slow down to four or five miles an hour within the town boundary, but Mr McKerrow thought passengers would complain that this was too slow. — In answer to Mr Nichol, Mr Garstin said that the speed within the town was from six to seven miles. — Mr McKerrow said it would add to the expense of working if they placed men at town crossings. Surely people crossing the lines would look each way. — Mr Froggatt eaid that in the case of Clyde street the curve was so sharp that people could hardly see the train before it was on them. — Mr Bain suggested that self-acting gates might be tried, but Mr McKerrow said that even then a man would have to look after them. — Mr Roche said that the Commissioners admitted the principle, as they had a signalman at the Spey street crossing. He suggested that if the corporation engaged men for the other crossings the Commissioners might subsidise them. It was a very serious matter, and in the interests of the public something should be done. He did not know that there was another town in the same position in this respect. It was a narrow street, and was just like a trap for people. — Mr McKerrow said the matter would be considered. Mr.Tothill brought forward the question of the timetable and rates on wool in connection with the Tapanui branch. With regard to the latter, at one time the charge for sending wool from Tapanui to the Bluff was greater than from Tapanui to Dunedin, although the distance was shorter. Representations were made on the subject, and the charge to the Bluff was lowered to the same as to Dunedin, but he did not think that this met the case. It was not fair, having^ regard to the difference in distance, and it looked as though the rate had been fixed to drive the traffic to Dunedin and Port Chalmers. It still went there owing to|the rate to the Bluff and Dunedin being the same, but if the charge were reduced to what it should be according to the mileage, the traffic from Tapanui would be diverted to the Bluff, its natural port. Until this alteration was made the people would feel that an injustice was being done to the district. He did not think the same anomaly existed in any other part of the colony. Then in connection with the time table in order to catch the train on the TapaDui branch from Waipahi Invercargill people had to leave by the 7.5 a.m. train, while Dunedin people, leaving nearly an hour later, and travelling a greater distance, could reach Tapanui just as soon as those starting earlier from Invercargill. At present the train from Waipahi to Tapanui left an hour before the arrival of the express from Invercargill, and what they now wished to suggest was either that the express should leave earlier or that the train from Waipahi to Heriot should be delayed so as to connect with it. Mr McKerrow : The question of the crossing of the trains comes in. — Mr Tothill : At present the train arrangements are such as to drive traffic from Tapanui to Dunedin. — Mr Hannay : You urged that the speed of the express should be quickened, and we did it, and you all agreed that the present hour of departure was proper and reasonable. — Mr Tothill said that the hour had been agreed to hastily, but when the matter was fully considered it was seen that a mistake had been made, and that it would be better if the train reached Dunedin earlier in the day. — Mr Nichol said it had occurred to him that if an alteration were made in the Dunedin suburban train service it might relieve the express of a good deal of traffic and enable the journey to be made more rapidly. There was a train service ten times daily from Dunedin, but it only served a distance of ten miles out. At a little more expense some of the trains could be made available for double that distance, taking up some of the work now left for the express, which might, for the reason stated by Mr Tothill, leave earlier than it now did, although in some respects the present hour of departure suited very welL The important fact was that on getting with* in thirty miles of Duuedin the journey became very slow and tiresome. — Mr McKerrow : I am just thinking of how I went over the road thirty years ago. — Mr Roche said that all they wanted was to be on the same footing as merchants in Dunedin so far as facilities for reaching the surrounding districts were concerned. He thought they were entitled to be placed in that position. They were getting ships to come direct to the Bluff from Home just as regularly as in the case of Port Chalmers, and they wanted to catch the trade of the outlying districts. —Mr McKerrow said that the matters mentioned would be considered^ The Mayor next referred to the timetable on the Lumsden line, which appeared to be very badly arranged. It was an intermittent service, and a great many complaints had been made regarding it. — Mr Tothill said that people could not understand the service nor carry its details in their minds. Passengers could not come from Lumsden or Winton between Wednesday morning and Thursday night. They were almost two whole days without a train, and then there were two close together. Nothing gave so much satisfaction as the train going out every morning and returning at night. They wanted a service that people with a reasonable amount of intelligence could understand. (Laughter.) —Mr Garstin pointed out that it only meant that on Wednesdays and Fridays there was no train from Invercargill. — Mr Bain, in further illustration of its convenience, Baid that if a person went to Winton on Saturday afternoon he could not return by train till Monday night.— Mr Hannay did not think it was ever suggested by the officers of the department that the service wa9 a convenient one, but there was not much business there. They had had daily trains there for years before adopting the present system. — Mr Bain : That unfortnnate Waimea train has disorganised matters,— Mr Scandrett said it was very awkward that people going to Win, ton on Saturday afternoon could not return on > Monday morning.— Mr McKerrow said that ■ the points referred to had been under con« I nderation, but the question of expense came

in and the difficulty was to provide a remedy, The present service was no doubt incon venient — all intermittent services were. Tht matter would, however, be looked into. At the instance of the Mayor, Mr McKer row made a note of the necessity that existed for the erection of a footbridge over the lines at the station so as to enable people be reach the goods shed without having, as at present, to go to it by way of Spey street. A bridge, it was pointed out, would be a great convenience. — In reply to Mr Hannay it was stated that the goods shed was connected with the telephone service. Attention was next called to the slownesa of the trains on the Riverton line. — Mr Bain said that one gentleman who frequently visited Riverton always rode there and back, and did the journey quicker than the train. Would it not be possible to accelerate the speed of the trains ? — Mr McKerrow said that one cause of the slowness was the number of stations on the line — about one to every two and a half miles. — Mr Garstin said the stoppages were very frequent. The distance was 25 miles, and the morning train from Invercargill occupied two hours on the journey. — Mr McKerrow admitted that was pretty slow. One could not rid that distance in the time ; but it was shorte by the road. A note would be made of the matter.— Mr Bain suggested that the journey might be shortened by half-an-hour. — Mr Hannay said there was not the slightest chance of the speed being accelerated unless they ran a passenger train as well as a goods train, and it would not pay to do that. — Mr Garstin said that as it was they could not keep to the time table ; they wanted ten minutes more between Invercargill and Thornbury. At present they had a goods train leaving at 11 o'clock once or twice a week to relieve the ordinary trains on the line. The Mayor having thanked the Commissioners for their attention to the subjects brought before them, the deputation with-