DELAYS IN TRAIN RUNNING

Hokitika Guardian, 16 April 1929, Page 5

DELAYS IN TRAIN RUNNING

AUCKLAND JOURNAL WISHES TO KNOW CAUSE.

AUCKLAND, April 13. In the course of an editorial on trains running late, the “New Zealand Herald” says: “The Minister of Railways has issued a .statement categorically denying the suggestion that- delays in the arrival of important mail trains have been deliberately engineered. He denies the existence of any ‘goslow’ policy and says that the delays have been “due to incidents always more or less attendant on the working of a railway.” “The Minister’s statement can he accepted unreservedly. 'The onus having been removed from the railway staffs, it rests all the more directly on the management. Trains have been arriving late all over New Zealand. Complaints about delays have arisen in places so far apart as Auckland and Dunedin. Mr Taverner has simply said what has not caused the trouble, which is of little value' as an assurance against its continuance. The lateness of important trains has been so frequent lately that it cannot reasonably he attributed to the causes stated by him, or, if it is so, then the sudden rush of contingencies has been very remarkable. While the Minister’s statement defending the loyalty of the staff can lie accepted thankfully, the public will ho all the more expectant of an assurance that the positive causes of delayed running have been detected and guarded against for the future.”