LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 672, 24 November 1909, Page 9

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

; HUTT VALLEY TRAIN SERVICE. ■ "To meet the convenience of business people: who wish to reach Wellington, in tuno for office hours, the. 7.43 a.m. train .. . from Upper Hutt will leave at 7.30, and , reach Te Aro. at 8.50 instead of 0.10."— Railway Department announcement. Sir,—Through your columns I wish to protest against an- injustico and inconvenience' that, will bb inflicted upon 12 miles of tho valley and: its-inhabitants if the abovo !illconsidered alteration is carried out. For twelvo months past I have been a daily'travellor by,this tram, and can claim personal acquaintance ■ with the two or three score of people living between the Upper and Lower Hutt townships, who habitually make use of : it. I affirm; withou); fear of coutradict'rin, that not_ono of these has expressed to the railway authorities any wish to reach Wellington earlier than- the- hour of 8.58, at which it at present _ roaches Lambton Station; and I affirm with equal certainty that no inquiry whatever has been mado by- tho railway people of tho valley dwellers above tho Lower Hutt as to whether such a change, is called for or is even desirable. And apart from tho convenience of actual passengers by this train., lam in a position to affirm that its proposed aCr celerationwill bo.in tho highest degree inconvenient to every farmer from Mungarpa down to Stokes's Valley, who at present has ■ little enough time to drive to the Stations with his milk, under'the existing time-table. ■': It is,therefore certain that the new arrangement : will ibe a. decided disadvantage to tho whole:of the Upper Valley. For whom, then, can' tho railway -people be catering? It can only bo for. the benefit of a few'people living in P«tone and tho Lower Hutt, and for-thom there is already a train leaving the Lower Hutt at' 8.17, and Petone at 8.21, which is due at Lambton at:8.42 and nt To Aro at 8.50. -Why cannot.this train bo left as it is? • Quite a majority of the Lower Hutt businbs's people themselves are satisfied'with the present - arrangement, and pertinently, ask -.. why they should be.forced to leave th'eir'homes twenty' minutes earlier, when for'thoso who do wish to get to town sooner thero is the present 8.17.: We poor.folk up the valley have to, bo content with what little we can get at the hands of autocratic i railway "management j but I.cnnhot refrain from' asking: why eight whole mini utes (sometimes-more)u are consumed at the Lower Hutt • station every, morning. The Upper.Hutt train pulls in at 8.29 and leaves at 8.!)7. ; Not'a can of milk,and hardly a portmanteau is ever shifted; a few more carriages are attached (an operation which I havo re-, peatedly timed as three minutes), then we all stand : about forfivo whole minutes more, which is absolutely- wasted, before , commencing tho run in.,to Wellington.'.: .": ...... ;- I write in the-hopo that this letter will be seen by'everyone in'tho Upper; Valley, ond that an,agitation will bo startecf that will not ecaso till we receive. more consideration in sovTal --treys', than-ire-.do at present.—l am,, etc., :.-. ;.';■■.■■■; :':'•,- -■' : "•.''■ "■ silversteeam/-