PETONE RAILWAY STATION.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2653, 27 December 1915, Page 7

PETONE RAILWAY STATION.

Sir,—Tho distressing accident at Petone railway station compcls one to ask if there are sufficient precautions to prevent such happenings. It must be admitted that there are not, and that tho notices warning against crossing the line are neither numerous nor conspicuous enough. They are placed at the ends of tho platforms, and arc small boards with not very large lettering, pn the up-platform there is a resthouse, which is in' full view of passengers waiting on tho down platform. A notice in largo letters on- the front of this house would be easily seen from the down platform. At present the building has advertisements upon it. If these wore removed the-notice would be all the more prominent. In this connection it may be asked why the railway station buildings arc disfigured by advertisements of every imaginable kind being plastered over them. A tourist passing through New Zealand some years ago said one might have thought that tho name of every railway station was "Wolfe's Schnapps," from the place that advertisement occupied. Does tho Railway Department need so greatly tho revenuo derived from advertising that it allows tho station- buildings to be disfigured in this way? ' A traveller and lecturer who paid a visit to the Dominion within recent years urged tliat something should be done to beautify our railway stations and their surroundings, and suggested as a first step thereto the abolition of advertising. If advertisements were removedj and their places filled by necessary notices, the risk of accidents such as tills deplorable one at Petone would 1 be rendered much less.—l am, FREQUENT TRAVELLER. December' 23, 1915.