THE RAILWAYS

Hokitika Guardian, 23 March 1925, Page 2

THE RAILWAYS

AIIXiST'ER’S AIMS.

[lit 2—LEGRARH —PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.!

NAPIER, Afarcli 22

“ \Ye have only just started on the fringe of reorganisation, and have onIv just endeavoured to deal with the mam services,” stilted the Alinister of Railways in reply to a deputation from which had brought several railway ma tiers before him. lie continued:

“Intermediate :uul ,sul)ivr!i;ui services liuve h.il vi been tackled. In the past, mtr policy has been to have lons trains, carrying to the lull capacity of the engine, ami running at a moderate speed, which, as.an economical proposition, was correct. Now we propose to run shorter and faster tains, in the hope that v.e shall he able to piek up enough revenue to nav for the extra mileage run, We shall have Mr. S. K. Fay here shortly, ami shall then have the benefit of his assistance. We are out to get vour assistance, and to give you service. The questions of pounds, shillings and pence, of course, must not he lost sight of. This year would have been a most satisfactory one. had it not been for the prevailing epidemic. You will hardly credit it. but up to date, we are down nearly half a million passengers on last year, representing in revenue up to eighty thousand. Hy the end of the year, L anticipate we will he down one linndread ptfil fifty thousand. That is not paying three and three-quarter pel The goods traffic, on the other hand, does show a satisfactory * 11 " crease. There is a distinct improvement all round, and that is encouraging. With that we shall lie able to pull up some of the losses on the passenger service. The control of goods, too. has been undergoing a complete overhaul, and we are anxious to expedite delivery.” Later the .Minister stated, in reference to week-end excursions, that the matter bad Ixten under consideration. He realised a good deal should he done with excursion fares, and that tint had to urge more people to travel on the railways. He had every confidence ; P the future. He was not going out of his way to encourage people to travel oil Sundays, but wherever there was a. legitimate demand for service, he would provide it. “We are out to give service.” he said.

The deputation congratulated the Minister upon recent improvements and his evident desire to bring about a better state of affairs.