THE EXPRESS “CUT.”

Southland Times, Issue 19772, 21 February 1923, Page 4

THE EXPRESS “CUT.”

The Christchurch Star has criticised the | Canterbury Progress League for its disin- ; clination to support the Southland protest , against the reduction of the daily through i express, to three-days a week, because of the . loss of £BOOO it is said to entail. The Star ' quite properly evinces surprise at the i amount of the loss involved in the mainten- ! ance of the daily express between Christ- ; church and Invercargill and we ourselves would like to know exactly. how this sum ■ is made up. If this question is to be approached properly people in Southland must decide which they prefer: a daily through express without midday trains to Dunedin or the schedule now in force, which gives Invercargill a daily connection with Dunedin and a through express to Christchurch on alternate days. It would be interesting to know what is the difference in the cost of running an express right through from Christchurch to Invercargill and of covering the same distance with two trains. There is probably some overtime involved, but Southland people should seriously consider whether the daily through express to Christchurch, providing- the province with a regular connection with Wellington is not better than the midday connection with Dunedin. If the full service of the double express each day is run we can quite understand that there may be a loss in the off seasons, but the point which Southland-

ers are concerned with is the break in their communications with the capital, while every other place of any size enjoys a daily service which gives the quickest connection possible. The time-table in the South Island might be revised in the winter months to fit in with the later arrivals of the ferry boats in Lyttelton or some slight rearrangement in the North Island might advance the time of the Lyttelton arrival, but in any case the benefits of the daily through service should not be abandoned lightly. If the Railway Department can explain the basis on which the loss of £BOOO a month is computed it will be easier to see exactly what the province has to pay. It would appear, therefore, that the Canterbury Progress League moved rather too hastily when it abandoned all idea of supporting Southland’s protest.