FROM COAST TO COAST

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 567, 23 July 1909, Page 6

FROM COAST TO COAST

t f ACCELERATED TRAINS. \ DEPUTATION TO HON. <L A. MILLAR. f SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS \ Tho necessity for the revision of the Bram services between the East Coast and tho , \ Coast and vice versa was urged upon ['■ the Hon. 'J. A. Millar (Minister for Radways) yesterday- by a' large deputation ropre- \ sentmg the seven chambers of commerce in tho districts affected. There wero present* ' Mr. J M Johnston and y Capt Haydon (Palh merston North), Mr* W C Buchanan, M.P. [ (Wairarapa), Mr. C. Hall, M.P (Waipawa), Sir W. Russell and Mr. Basil Jones (Hasti ings), Mr, F. W Williams (Napier), Mr. ! < Thos. Bain, (Danncvirke), Mr. H. Tolley ' v (Foildmg), Mr. G.. A. Fairbrother (Wai- !.' trarapa), E Daniell (Maatorton), and jUr. Harlrness (Wellington). It was men- '- tioned that Messrs. Buchanan and Fair- « brother also represented the .local bodies m I the South Wairarapa Apologies from several ? members of Parliament and others were re- "! ceived. j. ' * _ <■ Tho Changes Required. /

J Mr. J M Johnston (Palmerston North) ;, explained that the object of tho deputation •> was to obtain better railway facilities be- | tween Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, and Tara- ?■ Baki, and between Wairarapa, Manawatu, [ and Taranaki, and vice versa, to reduco the t delays which took place at Woodvillo and I 'Palmerston North; and fuithor facilfi v iies between tho two coasts l Although the t Manawatu line had been taken over bj the i Government nearly twelve months ago, no ' improvements in'the direction desired had 1 been made. The matter had previously been \, the subject of representations Not long ago jr it had been considered at a conference of ' delegates from tho chambers of commerce at Jvapior,' Hastings, Dannevirko, Masterton, Carterton, Feilding, and Palmerston North i, >It was then decided that application should- ', be made, not for concessions which could in f« any way bo termed extravagant or unreasonable, but for what' Was in the interests of the' radways, as woll as for the benefit of tho community. It was impossible to go ', Iroirt Napier to flow Plymouth in ono day— of 280 miles—which took 20 hours 1 **j iriinutes (and involved staving over-night fet Wanganui), of which 3 hours 20 minutes ( -Were spent stopping at Woodville, Palmerston North, and Haweia, without counting one „,i night at Wanganui or Aramollo From Napier the furthest distance one could travel j ~< fcione day was to-Wnnganui or Aramoho, 173 miles, and this took 12 hours 15 minutes, with one hour's W3it at Woodville, and 1 , lour 50 minntes at Palmerston North. It was only possible to reach Dannevirko from Now Plymouth in one day, and Wanganui v~ from Napier in ono day, distance 173 miles, ■but one could leave Napier and reach Auckland (452 miles) in ,22 hours 13 minutes, stopping one night at Woodville, and 25 ■minutes at Palmerston North. Then, again, ■*jt was impossible to go from Featherston, or ' , any station south of Masterton, to New Plyr' mouth m a day, or vice, versa. From iJFeatherston to New Plymouth was 252 miles, i '-and it took 18 hours" 32 minutes' training, ■* s stopping 31 minutes at Woodville, 1 hour •25 minutes at Palmerston North, and all »ne night at Wanganui' at Aramoho The fcain which left .Woodville for Palmerston jNorth after the arrival of l the WellingtonNapier express at .Woodville arrived in f Palmerston North j2O fminutes after, tho ex- , press from Wellington to Auckhnd had left _, , Palmerston North, and five miniltes after tho express had left Palmerston North for Wel- ' - lington via Manawatu line, so -that past sengers from anyiWniraTapa stations >cou!d Hot reach Shannon, Levin, Otaki, etc , except by a much later train, and could not go north by the Main Trunk express v 'Waitmknrau was a large centre for stock sales for supplying the West Coast fattening country, but it was impossible'to attend-those m sales from Palmerston North and return tho same day (although the distance'was only ~69 miles), as the time allowed was'only 1* -' hour 20 minutes, but one coujd go to Wa- < nganui and back in one day, staying there 1 hours 20 minutes, the distance being 63 miles. Only Fair to .Test, the Proposals. The net revenue for the year ended 1908 flast available) on tho New Plymouth-Napior-iWelhngtou section—49o miles of working railway—was ( £255,852, equal to £4 lis 8d percent on cost of construction (£5,580,650), or a return of £522 per mile Tho HurnnuiBluff section —1288, miles of working railway I —for tho same per'od, gave a net revenue of ' t '£287,195-£2 7s lOd. per cent on sost of construction (£11,997,562), or £223 per<milo That meant that, on construction ..cost, the' \ North Island section gave £2 3s lOd per , cent better profit than the southern section, or a bettor return by £299 per mile. It was therefore urged that the Department could j at least afford to test th,e proposals, for a little over 4J per cent was a good proht indeed to mako out of the section Mr , l Johnston further mentioned that it was desired that the Palmerston North-Wangaaiui, and vice vorsa, morning and evening services be accelerated by at least half an hour, also the morning train from Palmerston North ' to Wellington, and evening train from Wellington to Palmerston North The Palmer-' Eton Ndrth-Wanganui morning train took ~ ,4 hours 20- minutes for 63 miles, but the evening train|djd,it in 10 minutes less. Then again, the morning train from Palrrier- / eton North to Wellington took 3 hours 50 minutes to reach Paekakanki (61 miles), buf the evening train on the same journey did ■. an twenty-five Minute's less It was'found 1 that, generally speaking, tho trains in the, ", South Island (Hurunui-Bhiff) were ruh> , faster than on ,the New Plymouth-Welhrig-ton-Napier sections Views of other Soeakdrs. ' , Among the other speakers was Mr , Williams (Napier), who declared that Pal- | merston North should bo the central junction for all trams from the East' Coast, ,West Coast, and from tho north and south , Sir Wm Russfell (Hastings) remarked that, without additional expense, the convenience of the people could be bettor served by a reduction of the delays at somo of tho stations, rather than by an acceleration of / tho speed of tho trains. • Mr. Buchanan (Wairarapa) pointed/ out that the Department had never seriously ' tackled the necessity for recasting tho timetable, which was arranged to protect the Government railway sorvico as against tho competition of tho Manawatu railway sorvioe ' Captain Haydon emphasised tho necessity for the appointment of crossing-keepers at 1 busy thoroughfares He instanced the j Square at Palmerston North ' MINISTER IN REPLY. • The Hon J. ,A Millar, m reply, said that the first consideration had been to get ', the Mam Trunk lino service thoroughly es- ' tabhshed For time tho Wairarapa ', and Napier time-tables had been under consideration. Some of tho changes which the deputation had urged could not be made, It' had practically asked that there should bo a second passenger train from Napier daily, which would not be justified In order to got through connection to New Plymouth from Napior, it would mean that the train which now started at 845 a m would havo to leave at 615 a.m. To satisfy itself as to whether there was a desire for such a change, tho Department had taken out tho passenger totals from stations between Napier and Makottiku to stations north of Wanganui for four weeks from May 28 It had Been found that tho value of the tickots"

was £108, which would mean, say, .£I3OO for the whole year. such an alteration were proposed, there would lo a l huo and cry that it was being mad© for the convenience of a small section of the .community. To run a second train would cost £17,000 per annum. Mr. Jones: You have taken four weeks at tho worst time of the year, and in a slump \ period. , • % Mr. Mil Hi' replied that he'was willing/to tako any ic lr weeks of the year or a long < period of say, the last two years. He did not fciunk it .would make much difference in tho net result. With regard to the delay at Woodville the- people .had a long-staading griovanoe. It was hoped to bring down a.

tima-table which would givo the connection at Palmeraton Northi.but ho could not promjße that it would go as far as that-

Steam Motor Carriages to bo Tried.

'As the settlers had to he considered as well as the travelling public, it was impoßsiole to accelerate.tho speed of mixed trains. When a time-table was in force, tho tram had to keep to it whether there wero tiucks to be 1 pioked dp *or dropped or not The proper way to meet the requirements of suburban traffic was by introducing steammotor carnages which had proved successful in older countries, and which ran moro economically than ordinary trams It was hoped to get some before long, and give them a trial One purely pissengor service per,day wa.s as much as the returns justified' on that line. It should bo possible to readjust 'the time-tables so that tho train from Woodville for Palmerston North, after tho arrival of tho Wellmgton-Napior express at Woodville, should not got into Palmerston North twenty minutes after tho oxpiess from Wellington to Auckland had left Palmerston I North, 'and five minutes after the express 1 has left-Palm*rston North for Wellington via" the Manawatu line. He would point out, however, that tho slightest readjustment on one section might mean readjustment of tho whole time-table over a largo distance If the mail tram arrived "at New Plymouth after 8 o'clock, the residents of Taranaki would complain It had boon found that that line was being robbed by tho Main Trunk* line 'Every endeavour would be made to make tho trains from tho two coasts fit in as well as possible The Main Trunk trams could not be utilised as far as Marton for passengers from Palmerston North to New Plymouth, as thcro was neither sufficient haulago nor sufficient accommodation < i

Wairarapa or Manawatu? Tho reason ,why there was 'no dining-car on the Wairarapa line was that tho haulage power of one engine was already taxed to the utmost If a car woie put on it would mean that an additional engine would have to be used every day m tho year Diningcars, it had been found, were not tho best money-making concerns, and the Department did not wish to add to the loss already made in that direction

Mi. Bain, at this stage, urged that tho Napior tram should run through tho Mana-, watu and not through the Wairarapa Besides being the shorter route, it would bo the most economical , Tho Minister replied that it was proposed to divert tho whole of tho trade to Wellington from as far south as Eketahuna down the Manawatu Gorge, leaving only the Wairarapa trade to go over the Wairarapa line In order to facilitate the working of the plan, four more crossings wero being put in 'lo take tho Napier express through thit way would mean lcmodellinc; the whole of the service He did not think that proposal had come up loi 'consideration ' Mr Buxton It is a question which would involve tho running of an extra train ' Mr Millar then referred to Ijho suggestions with respect to alterations to suit those who attended the stock sales.

Mr. Buchanan "thought that the Department should ask the stock agents to put definite information befofe it.

Mr Johnston remarked that the Masterton people could go to. and from Palmerston North and have several hours to 6pare, ivhjlst_ Palmerston North people, who wished to visit Masterton./ had not the feamo facili-

Futility of Automatlo Signals. Mr Millar touched upon what he termed the "Featherston extension" proposal—that the north train leaving Masterton at G3O a m should start from Featherston and reach Palmerston North to catch tho New Plymouth train He said it was-not warranted, there had been little or no increase in population Mr. Fairbrother Whj, it is only within the last few jears that Martinborough has grown into importance Mr Millar The tram wonld havo to leave Featherston at 5 a.m,

Subsequently Mr Millar said the Department would endeavour to adjust matters, so long as it did not involve increased expenditure. With regard to the question of crossing-keepers, it,was impossible to put a man at oveiy crossing, even where there was ,a fair amount of traffic They could not afford ito put Hem on in Ohnstehurch, where they were badly needed Men wero only put on where the"crossing was dangerous In England and America automatic signals were goins out of use This was owing to tho fact that they sometimes failed to act, and people took but little notice of them 1 " I Mr.'. Buchanan remarked that although a | promise had been given, that the trains | would slacken pace near a crossing at Featherston, the} rattled along as fast as ever Millar said he would tako a note of i the matter , , In conclusion, Mr Millar said he was glad ' to see v that the conference was opposed to tliOrproposed Levin-Greatford line Ho could not See how Folding could obtain increased | -facilities at* tho timo Until tho , steam motor service- tried the Department could not afford, to run additional full tiain' soi vices" <