GOING TO ELLERSLIE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 930, 2 January 1908, Page 5

GOING TO ELLERSLIE.

The sights and humours of the road have always been a fertile subject with turf writers. Who, if one has once seen it, can forget the road to Epsom on Derby Day, or better still the drive to Ascot. In Melbourne an immense number of people go to Flemington on Cup Day, but the bulk of them proceed by train, where the arrangements are almost perfection. In Sydney the crowds, who attend Randwick, are for the most part conveyed to the course by a fine tram service, which leaves little to cavill at. In Auckland we are not so fortunate, although we possess both train and tram. On Cup Day a crowd of some fifteen thousand people visited Ellerslie, of which it is quite safe to assume that two-thirds experienced the maximum of- discomfort in reaching the course. Those fortunate few who could afford- the luxury of a cab were all right, but those who could not were

given the choice of two methods —rail or tram. Now, if the former had been adequate, matters would not have been so bad, but with a single line and a shortage of carriages, the railway service could not hope to be effective. Once again passengers were crowded into open cattle trucks to endure the horrors of the tunnel. The writer had one experience of the kind which is quite sufficient to do away with any thought of ever going to Ellerslie by train again. This is the reason the bulk of the people now patronise the trams. Very foolishly the tramway executive ordained that there should be only a single line on the Remuera section, ’ the result, of course, being that the race traffic cannot be properly handled. The service on Thursday was as good as could be hoped for under the circumstaances, but three times the number of cars would have been filled. The scene about eleven o’clock at the Custom-street terminus was of a nature one cannot enthuse over. As-the cars arrived they were boarded-long before-they had stopped by a struggling- mass of humanity, women and men fighting their way in to get a seat. This sort of thing went on with the arrival of every car for upwards of an hour, by which time the pressure was relieved. Similar scenes were enacted at the commencement of the return journey, as indeed they invariably are on any of the b:'g days at Ellerslie. Under the circumstances it is not astonishing that so many people stay away from our leading racecourse owing to the excessively unpleasant hour to be spent in reaching the ground, and the still worse time coming away. The powers that be might do worse than hold a conference to see whether more efficient and up-to-date transport facilities cannot be provided.