RACING CLUB IN REPLY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3132, 10 July 1917, Page 6

RACING CLUB IN REPLY

AN EMPHATIC CONTRADICTION

(To the Editor.) \

Sir,—The reply vouchsafed by the Railway Department to the Wellington Racing Club's snggestioh re the race traffic, is not only contrary to fact, but grossly unfair, and 1 wish through your coiunins, sir,, to refute tho statements that , the -club considers* the interests of its patrons paramount to the interests of soldiers and their friends. No such attitude has ever been even . suggested by I us, and it is entirely outside the functions of the officers of the Department to invent such an insolent mis-statemeu; of tho facts. If tho Department's defence of its position requires to_be bolstered up with slanders of this soft, then" enough said.

We indignantly resent any. sucli suggestion. !t is not true, never was true, and the _f< ldiers know it is not true.

.!I am' in possessm of letters fro>n Sir A. W. Robin, General Hen.derson, and Colonel Gibbon, expressing the warmest gratitude for the help afforded by the -club ever since the beginning of tlye war, nnd the Prime Minister has made a similar statement on the 'floor of tiio House.

■•• Granted that I knew the policy of the Department three montlis ago, granted that we were hot taken by surprise, who -said we were? The position has been accepted front the first. We' surely have a'right to expect that every, possible Tise /will .be ..made, of the ordinary service to carry the public- in their own trains. '■ This is all we have asked for. No special trains have ever been.suggested. The Department raises the bogey about ~_the goods carried on the 8.30 a.m. train for Cross Creek, etc. This train is dis-

membered at Tipper Hutt .to adjust load

over the hill.' : Is it unreasonable to sujj•rest that these goods be conveyed to tipper Hutt by the 7.8 a.m.'train from Lanibton, at present composed of eight coaches, four of which are shunted off nt lower Hutt? If this is done, the 830 and. 9.55 a.m. can be strengthened lor the race traffic.' . ' The Department states that. the-9.55 is to bo'strengthened to its full capacity. Its full capacity is 20 coaches. Why have instructions been issued for only.fifteen? Regarding the return journey, we ask (hat the 3.2 p.m. train from Tinner Hutt ..be delayed till 4.25. This an.l the HI ■would return all passengers conveyed outwards on the two strengthened trains. Considering that, about lfiOO' people are affected, in this unreasonable? The Department states, the club, presspd .to delay the soldiers' leave train, thereby curtailing leave. We never- asked for ar.y such thing. R-i the train provided for visitors to the camp on Saturday, we asked'that this bostrpngrlipned —it is never full—and run a little earlier. As nine-tenths of the soldiers-will be on fho racecourse, nine-tenths of the visitors will want to.so there too. -I have already i-ssuod over 1000 ladies' ticket? to soldiers. This train returns at 5.30, one hour and a quarter after the last race. Where is the crushing to come from? The race crowd-will he koiic in tl>e two

earlier trains. The Department kno-vs nerfnctlv ve'i' they always crowd '1:" < people home in less trains than they soml t-nt i'i fh n mnrn'i.". This, sir. is the ease f o v tlm club ami the race-join;; public What about the taxpayer and this nrofif.ib'n revenue deliberately refused? We don't to tea Hi the Department its business, hut surely plain commonfense. makes it apnea' , that our sii!«"<iion is rpasonnblc, wnrl.-able, businesslike, ro"vcnient, nnd profitable. We are not. appealing on behalf of the weTl-to-do. The motor traffic, will convey

; tlwn. Tt is the less fnrtnnate neonle that nrr to no deprived of their day's snort, their one bit of nleasure. In a nretty . CTcy. oVnb life. an<l it nnpears as if^ they nre" going to lose it. —7 am. cJn.. A. E. WHYTJ3, Secretary, Wellington Raoipg CluJ).