SLEEPING CARS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1804, 17 July 1913, Page 8

SLEEPING CARS.

A NON-PAYING PROPOSITION. The Minister for Railways stated in the House of Representatives yesterday, in reply to a question by Mr. ,I. v. Brown, M.P., that it was not proposed either to prorido second-class sleepingcars or to increase the number of these cars now available for tlie use of firstclass passengers. "The expenso of fitting and hauling sleeping-cars is • very heavy," the Minister remarked, "and the practical experience in respect to the first-class sleeping-cars is in the direction of showing that, except when there is a large number of passengers on tjie trains the cars are not used to any extent during the day-time. The provision of sleepingcars for second-class passengers would therefore involve a very heavy expenditure, which, I regret, I cannot undertake. It is not proposed to increase the number of sleeping-cars at present available, nor to extend their use to second-class passengers. The cars are unprofitable to the Department, as in proportion to their size they seat very few passengers, and the additional money obtained for sleep-ing-berths does not bv any means recompense tho Department for loss of seatingroom and consequent loss to tho Department's revenue by way of passenger fares."