THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1911. THE FOUR O'CLOCK TRAIN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10306, 5 August 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1911. THE FOUR O'CLOCK TRAIN.

A circular Las. been issued from the office of the "Wairarapa Daily Times," containing certain extracts from this (paper and its> own, "'being an illustration of the manner in wihidhi the interests' of itihe BnisSi districts are served." The obvious intention of the circular is to make: it appear that the Wairaraipa Age bias-, in same /mysterious manner, iafluehced the decision of the Railway Department in abandoning .the afternoon train to the north. The very suggestion of saich a tiling is supremely ridiculous. Whatever may be his faults —and lie is 'anything but immaculate—*lie charge cannot 'be laid at the door of the Minister that he allows the business of his Department to (be unduly influenced iby .newspaper criticism. M isuah ia (state of things were posis-ible it ivouJld be quite reasonable to assiuime that our local contemporary, by ~tih;e violent language it has employed against the Department, by referring to it as "autocratic, grossly and notoriously incompetent," ha 3 done an irreparable injury +•> this district. Language of .that £• *:, in any ciraun&tance, is/ not oak: 'ated to improve the position. It is fortunate, however, that tGie Mimster has slitoiwn. himself impervious to such- attacks. The attitude of the Age in, regard to the railway iservioes foas always been to conserve the interests of the settlers within, reason. ,Wihen the early morning train from Cross-' Creek iwa* discontinued,

this paper -regretted the loss of a convenience -to a certain number of settlers in the Lower Valley, but did not .siuggeist that the Department wais pursuing a wrong course in. discontiniuinig a train 'which did .not pay. Nor did pur local contemporary | make such a- -suggestion. The Age | strongly advocated the giving of the ifour o'clock train to the north a, trial. Andi when this concession was j made, our local contemporary did nlot protest that the trial was being j made at the wrong season of the I year. It is only now, when tlie Min-'i ister finds that the business doas not I warrant tlhe continuance of the service, that our local contemporary becomes violent in its denunciation of the Department. From the point of view of Masterton tradesmen, it is highly undesirable that people should be offered unreasonable facilities for leaving the town. This- aspect of the question, however, dees not editor very largely into the discussion. There isoooid to he a desire on the 'jjart of certain, settlers in the North to toe able ito reach their ihom-as before dark. -This concession might be ) granted, even now, by tie addition or j »t pa£s&usar oir to wa (four o'clock i train, on, Wednesday* 2,vA Saturdays. It will not be obtained, however, by vc'fererxices to the "gross imramanagomerit" or "notorious incompetence" of the Department. There is not a settler in the Bush wihb wx>uld desire a train, to Ibe run at a loss for his special benefit. Nor is there one who will endorse the employment of violent language towards a Department which only recently conferred a distinct boon on the district by starting the .morning train from: Masterton to the north at an earlier hour, and afforded facilities for Wairarapa travellers to remain in Wellington for an extra hour every day. When we deal with the public services, let us at least he fair and reasonable. The issuimg of childish circulars such as that which has emanated from the office of our local contemporary, can only serve the purpose of making the author look ridiculouiS in. the eyes cf business men and the travelling public.