HOLIDAY RUSH NOT YET OVER

Southland Times, Issue 23406, 13 January 1938, Page 6

HOLIDAY RUSH NOT YET OVER

RAILWAYS DEPARTMENT STILL BUSY Although the increased traffic during the Christmas and New Year holidays has kept the Railways Department fully occupied, the rush does not end with the closing of the official holidays. This month is still a busy one for the department, although a gradual lessening of traffic will become more noticeable each week until the end of the month and the beginning of February when great activity will be experienced with the returning of school children to their homes after the summer vacation. The usual picnic season will begin about the same time. January and February being the most suitable and the most popular months for these excursions, and this will call for the running of special excursion trains. Later the return of students to their respective colleges will help swell the volume of traffic. It is expected that large numbers will travel by rail to the trades picnic at the end of this month and in February many school excursions are being run, so that although the actual holidays are a thing of the past as far as most business people are concerned, the Railways Department is still engaged in' great activity. A considerable increase on the past few years is shown in the railway returns for the holiday period. Passengers travelling from the principal stations in Southland during the four weeks ended on January 8 were 6000 more than for the same period for 1935-36 and the increase in revenue was £1306 15/11.