ON THE MOVE.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1924, Page 8

ON THE MOVE.

OFF FOR THE HOLIDAYS, ' CHRISTMAS RUSH STARTING. e - - HEAVY RAILWAY BOOKINGS, With Christmas but three days away, the holiday spirit is evident on every side, and trains, motors and steamers are carrying full quotas of early holiday makers. The indications are that there will be more people on the move this Christmas than any year since the war. The inquiries that have been made at the booking office at New Plymouth railway station during the past week suggest a busy period ahead for the railway staff. Speaking to a Daily News reporter on Saturday, the stationmaster (Mr. A. Stevens) said that the traffic of the past few days appeared to be well up to that of the corresponding period of last year and every day the volume was increasing. Business had been so brisk in the booking office last week that it had become necessary to put-on an extra clerk to answer inquiries and to reserve seats. Mr. Stevens thought the great majority of the passengers were booking for distant stations. The inward traffic was also big and was getting bigger every day. Although numbers of touring cars may be seen on Taranaki roads there is little evidence as yet of the holiday motorist abroad. The fortunate possessor of a motor car may postpone his departure to the last minute and therefore it will be Christmas and the succeeding days that will see the endless procession of cars of all makes heading north and south. The service car proprietors report good bookings for the holidays and one company, with connections which blanket the whole of the North Island, reports that to date the •bookings on all routes total over 2000. A feature of the bookings in Taranaki this year both with the service men who control several cars and also with the taxi men, is the reservations that have been made for trips to Mount E-gmont. Given fine weather the traffic to the mountain houses this year should ■be greater than ever. The Rarawa Lad fairly full passenger lists on her trips between New Plymouth and Onehunga last week and the bookings for tiiis week indicate that the traffic will be quite up to that of last year.