CUTTING DOWN TRANSPORTATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 296, 16 December 1942, Page 4

CUTTING DOWN TRANSPORTATION

"JTIE task' of cutting down transportation on the railways is bound to lie a difficult one, and it will earn few words of praise from the public. It is to be remembered that before the cut was made in the petrol supplies the railways were being disregarded by a very large percentage of the population. They sent their goods to market by road haulage ami they moved along the highways in their own motor-ears-or in service ears. Now the whole of the transportation is concent rated upon the railway system. Evon though the railways were working under ideal conditions in other respects, the task which now eoni fronts the system would be a. very difficult one. But there are abnormal conditions to lie dealt with: the soldiers in the various camps which are situated up and down the country, implv that there must, be inter-island travel until all North Island men are serving in North Island units and all South Island men are serving in South Island units 1 here may be some modification required in this iirograniiffie in consequence of the disparity of the population of the two islands, but because of the nature of the coastal regions in the South Island this disparity is not the disturbing factor that it would at first appear to lie. The miners are righflv to enjov special privileges- having the Government in their pocket and are to be accorded unrestricted travel, so it is mdv ri'dit. that soldiers’ privileop S () f tpavcl during iho holiday season should he curtailed. I tirfher. civilians such as Home Guardsmen who have been workmg m the defence of their comifrv without reeomneiise for the past two years, and at considerable expense to themselves in many in.stam-es. should in no wav ]>:■ i-wog.dsed as havitig :mv rmhts let alone privileges., Their',s not to reason why, their’s lint tn do and die, while men who denounce profiteers collect two salaries for doing one day’s work, l-lquality of saeritieo of this sort is the thing to weld the Dominion into one vast lighting- unit—fighting {■nipiijf thcmsel vps.