BIG INFLUX OF VISITORS

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1933, Page 4

BIG INFLUX OF VISITORS

NUMBERS FROM AUCKLAND CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY-MAKERS. SPECIAL TRAINS NECESSARY. OVER SIX HUNDRED EXPECTED. • Everything points to a record number of visitors to North Taranaki during the Christmas and New Year holidays. The opening of the Stratford Main Trunk railway has given better and more convenient facilities to holiday-makers from Auckland, and indications in Waikato point strongly to these being utilised freely. Tn addition to the usual expresses running from Auckland and New. Plymouth, every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday night there will be an express leaving Auckland on Friday night and arriving at New Plymouth at 6.39 p.m. on Saturday morning at the Christmas week-end. The usual Thursday night’s train will be a special one run independent of the Wellington express. It will leave Auckland at 7.20 p.m. and come right through to New Plymouth as a through express. The booking at Auckland has been so heavy that the stationmaster at New Plymouth received information yesterday that an extra train would leave Auckland at about 3.30 p.m. on Saturday and arrive at New Plymouth at 4.55 on Sunday morning. This train will serve a double purpose. The late night at Auckland is on Friday and the shops close at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The train will thus enable those working in shops and offices to make the trip. In addition it is expected it will bring thirty racehorses to compete at the Taranaki meetings. Special night trains will leave. New Plymouth on Saturday. One leaving at 11 p.m. will go to Auckland and an earlier one at 8 p.m. will go to Wellington. It has been urged that the Wellington train should be delayed until after 11 o’clock, but the railway authorities point out that this train will serve many other places besides New Plymouth and if put back three hours would seriously incovenience people from Wanganui, Feilding and Palmerston North, besides making it impossible to connect with the Napier train. From the information received from Auckland regarding the bookings it seems certain that 600 visitors will arrive in Taranaki by the Auckland expresses on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It can safely be stated that a proportion of these are people who have not previously made the trip to Taranaki. Another important advantage that the province will derive is that the visitors will do at least a portion of their Christmas shopping in Taranaki.