CATERING FOR RAILWAY PASSENGERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 276, 22 November 1945, Page 4

CATERING FOR RAILWAY PASSENGERS

r yilE standard attained by the Railways Department in catering for passengers’ meals Jias never been of a high standard, but during the war period it has sun® to deplorably low depths. It now presents a national disgrace and merits the description given to it by the Minister of Railways, the Hon. R. Semple, when he described passengers acting like “calves round a trough.” It is by no means a pleasant admission for a Minister in charge of Railways to have to make, but it is gratifying that lie is fully conscious of the unsatisfactory state of affairs and is determined to have this blatant defect remedied at the earliest moment.

While the Railways Department can be called upon to do much to improve its catering service, the public must be requested to co-operate with the Department. A service cannot be better than the people served, and in a number of instances the football rush at the tea-and-saudwieh bars is no credit to good manners nor to ordinary restraint. More assistants, more equipment, wide space in which to serve the public and decent stops at stations where refreshments are served would go a long way to overcome the present situation. The public respect for public property, however, should be insisted upon, and the removal of drunken people from railway trains would soon improve the situation in other respect. The railways arc by no means comfortable as a means of travel, but if the annoyances were removed train travel would at least be tolerable.