LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1635, 31 December 1912, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

/ THE'RAILWAY RUSH, ETC,

Sir,—l had occasion.to use the 3.4 train from Petone to Wellington on Saturday afternoon last, and whilst waiting at Petone the weather being'rather boisterous, .preferred .to take shelter under the verandah rather than wait on the unprotected part of the station.

Well, the train arrived, and as no sec-ond-class carriage appeared to be handy, I, with many otiiers, made my way to tho rear of the train. The others could run; I couldn't; I. had a big parcel in one hand, and a little toddler of two years hanging on to the other, and whilst yet a long way off from the nearest sec-ond-class carriage, the guard actually shouted, "All. aboard," and blew his. whistle. I just managed to scramble on to the train as it was moving away, dragging the child after me, but what I want to .ask is this: Was tho guard justified in blowing his whistle, even if tlie train was a few seconds late (and it wasn't), wlien he saw a handicapped person, as 1 was, doing his best to get aboard? It seems to me, that in such a case, a ■guard would be wise to wait—an accident might result.

Of course, the railway authorities will reply that I could have boarded carriage, and passed along, but that is .no easy matter with a big parcel and a baby! But, if tho carriages were more mixed, instead of all the first-class being together, • and all- the second-class being together, as they generally are, there would be less trouble. We people in the suburbs never know where to find onr carriages. They change places every other day. .

The disgraceful scenes at lambton Station on Saturday night prior to the departure of the 11.30 train for Upper Hutt, I need scarcely mention. .'The general public knows all about it; complaints in this connection 'have appeared in your' columns before; ■ Do the police read?—l am, etc., A.E.M.