LOCAL ACTION REQUIRED.

Western Star, 3 February 1922, Page 2

LOCAL ACTION REQUIRED.

As the railways of the Dominion are losing some thousands of ,poun :h a week, various cuts have been made in the services in an endeavour to equalise revenue and expenditure. The latest proposal by the Government is to cut out the 0.10 a.in. express from Invercargill to C'lirii-t----church. This would mean that there would only be one express from Invercargill North, leaving Invercaigill at 1,38 pmi. A meeting was held at Invercargill to protest against the discontinuance of the through express to Christchurch, anu a proposal was submitted that if the railway cut had 1 to- be made the 1.3 a train should .be the one to go and not the through:; express leaving, at 6.10 a.m. This' proposal appears to have found favour with a certain section of the townspeople, who do not seem to care in the about tho inconvenience that would be inflicted on this part of the district were the authorities to give effect to the proposal. If the afternoon express wore cut out, what would it mean to* residents in Wallace ? To catch the 6.10 a,m. train they, would have to go' to Invercargill the. previous day, and rise net fa ter than 3 o’clock on train day. While this would not be a hardship to the male sex, it certainly woulc.' be to women and children,', and children must, be considered in all train arrangements. If a train its to be cut out, it sliould be the early morning one. Travellers from, this district woulduthen proceed to Invercargill by the usual trains, catch' the afternoon express to Dunedin, arrive there about 7 p.m., and leave 'for Christchurch the next morning at about 8 o’clock—a more reasonable hour .than 6.10. The object of the proposal is simply to have the people stay in Invercargill overnight instead of Dunedin, and has been dictated by purely business reasons, andl not the w.olfare of the people in the country, whose interests should he considered. On these grounds Wallace objects to the proposal, which, it is hoped, will net be entertained. At a subsequent meeting, it wars decided I to ask for a, through express three times a week. This would mean that on three days the train ;vould leave Invercargill svfc 6.1 G a .m. m the other three at 1.38 p.m. This is a more reasonable proposal,, and the country people could so arrange their travelling 'as. to avail themselves of the afternoon express. If the Department agrees to thi.,s, the through train should' not run on Mondays, Because this would! necessitate anyone from this portion of the province desiring t ( o go by the through train leaving- home on Saturday and staying over ' Sunday in Invercargill. It should therefore rhn on k ‘Tuesday and such other f.hmi as' the Department thinks most suitable. The Progressive Leagues of the district should have something! to say on this matter. It would ho quite within their province to voice 'the opinion pf Wallace. It was,- a "Minister vl\o said, “Those who shout 'oudest receive the mast attention.'’