HOLIDAY TRAFFIC

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1923, Page 4

HOLIDAY TRAFFIC

PASSENGERS BY TRAINS. DECREASE ON LAST YEAR. BIG RACE TRAINS. The railway department at New Plymouth has again had a busy time thia Christmas, although the traffic has been easier than it was last Christmas, when the returns constituted a record. The falling off has been in the numbers of passengers travelling, but the goods and parcels traffic has been practically on a par with the holiday season of 1922. Saturday was the heaviest day. The down mail train to Wellington comprised ten passenger coaches and two mail vans, all the seats being occupied before the train got very far on its journey. At night there was a big rush. A relief train from Wellington of seven car* all full, was followed by the ordinary mail train made up of sixteen care. This train was over an hour late in arriving at New Plymouth, due to the heavy load and latenes* in getting away from the stations en route. The mail train to Wellington on Monday morning also consisted of sixteen carriages, double the usual number, necessitating the employment of two of the large A.B. engines. From Wellington two trains were again run, comprising a total of thirteen carriages, as against nineteen on Christmas Eve last year. The decrease is probably accounted for by the fact that last year there was only one relief train from Wellington, the extra train being provided on Christmas Eve, whereas this year there were two extra trains. If there has been a falling off in the traffic on the New Plymouth line, thia was not the case with the Main Trunk. From the end of last week four trains daily have been run between Auckland and Wellington and the same number back again, while on one day the total was

increased to six each way. The special train arranged by the New Plymouth Retailers’ Association from Stratford on Christmas Eve was not very well patronised on the upward journey, only two cars being required. The fact, that the train encountered heavy rain from the time it started "kll along the line to New Plymouth would militate against heavy patronage, while the counter at* tractions provided by Stratford and Inglewood would further tend to keep people from travelling. A greater number of people, however, made use of the train on its outward journey. The race traffic yesterday was very heavy, over 135(T passenger* being carried in the two trains from Hawera. The first train comprised nineteen cars and the second one eight, all being well filled. One unusual feature of these trains, the stationmaster (Mr. Pickard) informed a Daily News reporter, was the way in which the first-class accommodation was patronised. It was generally the experience, he said, that the second-class cars on race trains were packed while the first-class were left comparatively empty. The proprietors of the ’buses running on the recognised ’bus routes, particularly down the coast, renort an exceptionally busy time. The rush was at its height on Christmas Eve, when the big crowds who were brought into town during the day had to be taken home within a comparatively brief period. The fact that the numbers were added to by a large body of town dwellers who were making for the country to spend the holidavs did not make any easier the problem of finding room, but all were got away well up to time. One firm alone carried over 200 people down the coast on Christmas Eve,