SUBURBAN TRAINS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 90, 13 October 1934, Page 10

SUBURBAN TRAINS

WELLINGTON SERVICES

QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE

Several matters affecting the suburban train services in Wellington were raised in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon during the discussion on the Estimates of the Railway Department.

Mr. W. Nash (Labour, Hutt) asked whether the Railway Department was in a position to make any announcement concerning the long-promised ramp over tho level crossing at Petone. Ho realised that there had been financial obstacles in the way of carrying out the work, but the danger was a real one. Mr. Nash also asked whether it was the intention of the Department to extend the Waterloo line to Silverstream and Point Howard. For the last two years he had made representations to have the time for the use of workers' tickets extended to 9 o'clock in the morning. Many of the people who came in daily from the Hutt Valley were employed as clerks and.shop-assistants, and they did not have to be at work until 9 o'clock. The result was that they had to pay considerably more for their train tickets, although they did not earn any more than a great number of other workers. Mr. Nash said that he wished to protest against the unfair discrimination against Hutt Valley workers as compared with workers in other suburbs. The fare to Petone was Is 3d return as compared with 9d for a similar distance in Auckland. Furthermore, the workers' tickets cost 3s 3d in the Hutt as against 2s 6d in Auckland. Many people had been induced to livo in the Hutt on the understanding that the weekly worker's ticket would cost 2s 6d, but it had been raised to 3s 3d when the depression came. The Minister of Railway's (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) said that no provision had yet btecn made for the building of a ramp at Petone. The safety of level crossings had been improved by the installation of wig-wags and lights, and it would be impossible to comply with all tho requests for ramps because of the expense involved. He would be pleased to place any representations before the Railways Board, but he thought that it was not the intention of the- Department to extend tho Waterloo line to Point Howard or Silverstream. Tho reason why the workers' tickets were cheaper in Auckland was because the railway station was not right in the city, and the cost of tram fares was taken into consideration.

Mr. E. A. Wright (Independent, Wellington Suburbs) said that the people living at Ngaio, Khandallah, and Johnsonvillo were anxious to know whether there would bo any servico run on the lino after tho opening of tho Tawa Plat deviation. It was true that there was a bus servico running between these places and the city, but many people preferred to travel by rail, and others could not afford the extra cost of the bus fare. It was time that the Railway Department mado somo announcement of what it proposed to do for tho people ■who would be affected.