The Globe. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 444, 16 November 1875, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1875.

Complaints against the present management of the Canterbury Kailways are frequent, and in the opinion of the general public well founded. The system of booking appears to have become a hopeless question to master, and the consequence is that unfortunate passengers are carried beyond their original destination, or detained on the journey to any particular place in the most aggravating manner. With regard to goods, the state of things is even worse. It would appear that it has become a matter of the merest chance when goods entrusted to the Canterbury Kailways will be delivered, more especially on certain lines. The transit of live stock present dilficulties which induce owners to travel their animals along the road sooner than submit themselves to the tender mercies of the officials under Mr Lawson, If any one wishes to send a horse, for instance, from Christchurch to the Ashburton, he would naturally be under the impression that the booking of the animal through to its destination would be sufficient. Let the deluded individual try it, and he will find to his sorrow how he has miscalculated the amount of difficulty that can be thrown in the way of such an apparently simple operation. He is informed, first of all, that ho cannot be guaranteed a box at Kolleston, this fresh box being rendered necessary by the change of gauge at that station. He has to go to Kolleston or to telegraph to the station master there, and it is odds against his obtaining the information he requires under some hours of delay. The obtaining of any information at the stations is usually not an easy task. If the officers of the department are overworked, surely it would be an act of wisdom to increase the staff, as it is evident that the increase of expense will be more than counterbalanced by the increase of traffic. If the traffic has become too large for the main line of railway in the province, it is time that steps were taken to increase the carrying power, as it would be absurd to suppose that the present line will meet the requirements of the province in a few years, if the demands upon its carrying capabilities continue to increase in the same ratio as they have done lately. If, however, the complaints that are now so numerous arise from the fact that the traffic on the line is badly managed, the question of the management should be inquired into. One thing is evident, viz., that the complainants intend to make themselves heard in the matter, and the charges of inefficiency on the part of sundry of the railway officials, cannot be ignored by the department to which they belong.