PERMIT NECESSARY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 297, 17 December 1941, Page 4

PERMIT NECESSARY

HOLIDAY RAIL TRAVEL RELIEF TRAINS CANCELLED No relief express or passenger tta.ns for distances exceeding 100 miles wid be run in the Wanganui railway d,c trict on or after next Saturday, and specials arranged to cope with the Christmas rush have been cancelled. Normal services will be retained, including railcars, but no extra accommodation will be provided. Persons who have adequate reasons for wishing to travel will be issued with permits. Many extra trains had been arranged for North Island lines, particularly between Wellington and Auckland and some were fully booked well in advance. By decision of the Wai Cabinet, however, they arc ail cancc led and people have been urged tn remain at home during the holida.Fares paid, together with reserve : seat or sleeping car charges, will hr refunded. Throughout yesterday many inquit ics were received at the Wanganu Railway Station, and to-day a start will bi made with the issuing of permits to people who are -permitted to trat.-l. Il was staled, however, that when normal accommodation is full, no further reservations will he accepted. “P< rsons who have adequate reasons for desiring to travel on or after December 20, and who are required to can. ei their bookings in accordance with these restrictions, may rebook h\ Ih .- ordinary services, but such i< ■ booking: will require to be regulated wiiiiot Ihe limits of the normal accommodation available on these triin,.” said an official when emphasising yesterday that all bookings alreadv made must be cancelled. "All intending passengers for distances beyond 100 miles must be prepared to give their reasons for desiring to trr.v cl ’ he added. No guarantee can be given that trail.s will be available for the return jour.it j. as it may he found necessa: to cancel trains without notice should th ■ circumstances necessitate th ■ couise. Passengers travelling by ex- ;>"• ss mail or passenger trains on and alter December 20 for journeys of l<So than 100 miles will not be permuted to reserve seats unless such reservations can be arranged without excluding passengers making author ised journeys for distances of more than 100 miles. Principal trains affected at Wanganui are the Wellington-Wanganui-New Plymouth expresses. Several relief trains had been arranged, aid four cars of a special which was to have left Wanganui at 11.33 a m. next Saturday, for Wellington, were fully Irooked before the relief expresses ! were cancelled. Because of petrol rej strietions there were indications that I the coming Christmas would have iieen tiie busiest on record. riu- down New Plymouth express is limited to two si-cond-elass and two tirst-class ears leaving New Plymouth, and om- car with accommodation fen 37 people i« added at Aramoho. The lota! numbi r of passengers for which accommodation is provided on this trails is about 21c A similar position ) applies t-.i the north-bound New Plyi mouth express. Under the new restrictions, accommodation on the Wellington-Wan-ganui-New Plymouth express trains will not he increased, and no relief expresses will be provided. | In sharp contrast to other season.-, this Christmas is expected to he the quietest on the New Zealand railways for many years.