THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 400, 8 January 1909, Page 6

THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

ALLEGED MISMANAGEMENT. EXPERIENCES GATHERED ON THE •. SPOT. I [Contributed.] ; The earnest - advice of one who has tried: it to those ■ wishing -to travel to Rotorua .or Auckland is, at any cost, to avoid the Main Trunk line, for, there surely -.was never. a more perfect example-of bungling incompetence displayed in. the ; conduct of any railway, service than thero is in the management of this line.: The writer formed one of a party of three ..who took'.tickets; from Wellington to Rotorua. A special train was advertised to start from Wellington at; 10.30 p.m. on December 23. Anticipating a difficulty in getting seats, we .took the precaution-, of being at .the- 1 station: at 8.30' p.m., two hours 1 before the train was ; timed' to start. . Already there were a. great number of people waiting,-and the crowd 'rapidly increased. A Mad Scramble. At 10 o'clock there wero many hundreds

an .the station waiting,' but; no train was j provided,, and, it was not until , twenty min-' i utesjpast ten, only ten minutes, .before it was j timed to start, that a train was shunted on j to the platform.' A/scene of. wild confusion- - T Followed. ' Men with heavy luggage, pushed- j and fought for an' entrance : while the' car-' j riages were moving in, and before, they were ; v brought to a standstill every; Available first- s class seat was filled, and many and' ; s children, some of whom had ;,been waiting ( for hours, could not secure a seat. • It was j by the .greatest-good fortune • that no one ' s was pushed under the wheels and killed in s the mad scramble. As it was, only the strong j and selfish secured seats. . Those who had any regard for the women and refused..to '; push them' aside'could'get no seats at all: Our party, after a walk from ono 'end of -the , train to tho other,' finally found seats.-; in-, a' very dirty second-class .. smoking carriage,; and we had to' beVco'ntent with those seats ' until wo reached Palmerston Northl It would - - have been just as. easy ■; to -have had tho'.carriages waiting at tho . station■; .two■ ; hours before starting, time. The disgraceful rush would thus have been avoided, and those'.who' had earned first right to a seat: , ( by homing'. early could have obtained: one.- • After, this ' wild scrimmage, the train was; nearly an hour late in starting. . It reached Palmerston at- half past' two; in the morn- ! ling, and thero was again a wild rush .for- ; feat's.-:. : , ' ; ' '■! Another Rush In the Dark. Several passengers there .interviewed 'the' : .stationmaster, and l insisted upon another first-class carriage .' being , put on. After_ a long delay this was done.' Thero was a.'wild .charge" for it ini the dark. We secured seats .at the risk of our lives by . boarding the carriage .while, in motion,, butmsny : others did: not, and had to stand for hours.-:., ! A Minister's Privileges. , . ' I qihitted to mentiori't-hat'while many' pas- : sengers were unable, get sba,ts' at Wei-, ilingtoh' a special'carriage.-was shunted;, onfitted up iii.a style.of:luxury quite,unknown, ■ Ito.;the". jbpst :of.,our''.!first-class. carnages,: for. iseate in";which the - public .pay...! This ~ car, was strictly 1 reserved, and into it walked: the . Hon. Mr.. M'Gowan,. the, then Minister ' of "Justice, Mr,; M'Nab, ex-Mimster for Lands, and ..three or.- four, consequential, .secretaries': .or supporters of some' kindj-" r some six,' or eight persons in-all. -A -secretary barred the ;door to the. public who I mshed ■ to' enter, and this'-- carriage was: bccuj)ied in'- ease-by .those j .favoured few who travelled; at the "public ex.pense,. whilej.the public .who:\ provide, the •railway and' who paid for seats wore in many, :Cas6s 'unable ,to get;,,them.-;-The' .Chief Justice of this-Dominion, who, until- ho was , .'deprived of:- his, rightful, order,-of,'precedence by the next to the .Governor -;arid.f .before '-'ans' Minister: of ..the Crown, i; and. even ..now. ranks.higher, than; any ; Minister , but 'Mwistwj when-he' travels oh v cirouit to do ' the -juaicial-jbusinessr; .of the country is', allowed ;.a -smalli compart-", ment- in.'a '.birdcage carriage, capable: 'of .holding-at .most six. persons. ..'But the..late .Minister for. Justice, travelling -home to hisfor';his. Christinas holidays,; can. apparently, spread himself,! .ever, a .whole - carriage ."capable. .'of ..'.seating ,30. persons; /,;but, specially fitted up:. with.. luxurious, couches, and loungo chairs.'for-the'special..behoof-'of, . jVlinisters, ■ who 'hayo;. .apparently. : a' predilec-. tion for ','the.' canopy,. of;:costly: ■ State with: all appliances .and-.means' tb'., : bpot:f' :I \un/lerstand that. ..the/problera,' v<yn,Vtho; Main ,Trunk line is to! get light! as: .possiblo .in • order to . pope>witli , the heavy gradients,! and,'.this was., thereason .given. for not! putting on' .more . ister ana his secretaries had been content to ;travel, on/.their, holidays,..like- any or-' dinary . unprivileged member of the public', or-;hadi even reserved' to themselves "a 'compartment such as tho Chief Justice, has to be content;'with,' there, would . have' been seats'for all.' How long':.will"the: people. of ,New Zealand allow themselves to : be; .flouted in this manner, by their own well-paid Ministers? ' .-. ;-. : :;. Dining Car Reserved for Minister Only. ! Nor was this. all. .-.jrfr. M'Nab left th© train at Palmerston, or aomewhere' -near... there) and .from that time the Hon. Mr.' M'Gowan occupied tho Ministerial carriage with his secretaries. in lonely state, The next' day we were told that.lunch would be ready in the dining'car at twelve-o'clock. We went, along .at twelve, but- found thodining' car locked,; We waited. for a quarter, of .an hour,! and then, discovered the /cause. At a quarter .'past .twelve' Mr. ''M'Gowan came through . the ' train ''with;' • his : secretaries, : pushed through; the crowd which had collec- ' ted at the dining'car,'knocked imperiously at the door, which was' at once' opened, and he and his favoured pa'rty' Wero admitted." We had been kept -waiting..a' quar.ter' of an hour until it pleased the ex-Minister and his party to come along;.and.'claim-,a!s of right the best seats,, and the . officials .then had• the. im- j pudence to endea!vbur'to shut tho door in the faces of. the' ordinary passengers'until the Minister .'uid .his-.ipaiiy had' satisfied their imperious appetites.,. ;!'." : - Incompetence at Frankton Junction. . When we-' reached: Frankton Junction .there ; was a sta;to'of'Gutter' confusion;: - We' had'been'inf6rmed : that a special train would ,be there in' waiting! to" take . passengersThrough to'Eotoriia. There,was no.train in' waiting,,, and! no,; one; there. seemed! to! know about it. The stationmaster, said, he., thought there would be 'one; :biit;did' not'know'' at what. time;. !'■■ We .'waited; there , for over, an. hour, and at' last a train drew up for Roto:rua, which consisted, of the-spe'cial car still occupied ; by the ex-Minister ' and: hissecret taries -a'nd one first-class carriage not - cap- ! a,ble • of taking nearly all th'e'!passengers waiting.' 1 When it'drew -up .wo found it, already full. ; Some of tho passengers had been told : which car was going to be taken ;on, and all: the seats.| had. been, before- the', train ! was ..'drawn! up! to..th'ti platform'.". At length: | we started nearly.'an- hour and, a half late,- ! fondly imagining our troubles were at length- [ over.-:. ; '~-!. • A Third Change of Cars. ' ; Before wo had- gone more than, eighteen, miles, however, we were bundled 1 out : of tliis train at Jlorrinsville,' apparently , bewiuse it was. needed to, convey the ex.-Minister and his secretaries !on , to; the. Thames, and we' ' again had to.,:wa,it' another three-quarters, of i: an hour .while another,.train,was got together ■ for the Rotorua , passengers. The accommo- ! dation in this train was utterly .inadequate for the number of. After another • irritating delay another carri!ig4. was put on, [ and, 'finally, towards the end of-our journey j wo were .able; to'secure,.comfortable seats." r Tho!train did not: reach Rotorua until after' ; 10 o'clock. .We i-had been 24 hours in the i, train, had to, change, three, times,' and had (. suffered ; the discomfort ,of hours.in cramped • and. out-of-date overfull carriages, and for- a . great part of the .time had been'.quite unable , to procure the ; 'seats wo had;paid for. j The Return Journey: A Selfish Trick. i -. The return, journey was; even'!worse. : ! We , started from Rotonia ; at; half-past riino in- , the morning. All. went well until wo reached

Frankton Junction. There we had to There was one first-class carriage—a fine new , one—wajtihg in a siding ofi the platform. It was divided into two. Each compartment was capable, of seating fifteen persons, but one was marked "Reserved." A rush was mads for the carriage,, and- it was quickiy filled. It turned out, however, that half of: it, : • containing fifteon seats, had.been reserved for a commercial _ gentleman- of 'Wellingixin in high favour with the Government, who waa travelling privately with a party, of six. 'This gentleman entered the carriage and : ordered overyone out, stating that ho had paid for the-whole carriage. He turned out men and women indiscriminately, .and. then proceeded to occupy the fifteen available seats with, his party of six. Ho even went so far as to order the guard to lock him in;, so-that no common person could intrude, and this was - actually clone,, and passengers were thus prevented from passing through the train. Most of -the passengers bad' to await the train Some -few found seats in it,.:, but the majority had to stand all the way to Taumaruni^—a run of four and- a half A Rich Man's Service. I do not know by what arrangement' this gentleman was enabled to occupy fifteen seats with his. party of six while, many, pas-. sengers who had paid for , seats were unable r? obtam them. I notice by the regulations .that the Department does not undertake .to reserve carriages except for "specially au-thorised-parties,' whatever that may mean; Authorised by whom? Who has the power • to allow a man. whf> happens to be' rich or influential to monopolise . a whole carriage white others stand? Whether .'this gentleman : paid tor fifteen seats, or whether, as is most probable, he only-paid for seven, the system which allows one man on a public railway ' WE® --KsMted-'canylag.capacity,.; and at . Christinas. time-rthe- only season when the .workers of the country can spare . the - time. to take a holiday—to - occupy fifteen : seats with' seven passengers, while many, persons just as worthy, but without the in- ; .fluerice which, this, gentleman can-bring' to - .bear, can ; find nothing but; standing room, is, to say the least, utterly'incompetent and unfitted to .the-needs of a democratic, com- . munity.. There were eleven, caps .in. all on the Itrain,' seemingly, its full capacity, for it was ■with this greatest .difficulty, that it' negotiated some of the ? up-grades. . Probably not more 1 than five 1 .,0f these were first-class. II this system of .running the. service were, car.;ned to its logical conclusion,; it'would inean that ton. rich .men could reserve the whole train, and thus deprive. the public of the . ;chance of, travelling in .their, own. cars; It -could, not, of. course, be carried to its' logiJ a }. oo nclusion, for. public opinion would .not tolerate. such an. outrage' on : popular -rights , for a moment. Only afew. favoured men. are' able to filch these privileges' from a Department which -nominally; exists for -[the service of..the. public,, and if .the railways were . run honestly and competently in the inter-' 1 ests of; the people .who own. them such a. thing.could nothappen. This gentleman was J kind- enough at a. later stage of, the journey | to invite; one or; two. personal friends of, his ! who happened to.be. travelling'into His'own ■ private,carriage, an act.: of liberality with ■ .public-: property of , a . kind to . which... New ~ "has beconie .well.-accustoined under ;"our. "Liberal"' Government.. If men of this class desire, to avail themselves of the publio ■ conveniences for/travelling, I want to know -. why,'-solely, on account of " position; 6r, r "pull," or, money,they. should be put in a. »• better po.sition-;tban. any : other : memWSof. r. tho public who is travelling. Our railways r, wero built" with the: money- ahd.-credit, and 3 are run by the-industry,; not : bf our--rich ? .middlemen,, but of-.the great producing class' > of-the community upon whose industry the b' : middlemen-. exists:. and Just 80 soon;as that r class stirs itself-to' sefi'to. it that the. "rail--0 ways are run in : the ■ public and 3 not in- the interest' of holidaj-making Minise t-ers or a few rich men,- will they be treated - .fairly.,and decently,..'

(To be continued.)