King Country Chronicle Wednesday, Feb. 1, 1911. THE TRAIN SERVICE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 333, 1 February 1911, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Wednesday, Feb. 1, 1911. THE TRAIN SERVICE.

! In August last year, after a bottle royal on the question of additional passenger facilities between Frankton, le Kuiti and Taumarunui, the Minister of Railways finally refused to grant the most reasonable requests ■ made, and avoided a blunt non possu- ! mus by stating that he would see that facilities for travel in the guard's ivan of the goods trains were forth- | coming and that special guards' vans |be built to admit of this I being done. Te Kuiti Chamber of ■ Commerce, acting in association with j the Otorohanga and Te Awamutu | Town Boards and Taumarunui Cham- ! ber of Commerce is moving once again i in this important matter, and a petition to the Minister of Railways is ; being numerously signed, asking that a passenger carriage be put on the | goods train leaving Frankton each I day for Taumarunui at 7 a.m. and | calling at all stations en route, and i the night goods train leaving Te Kuiti |at 9 p.m. for Frankton. In the past : six months ample corroborative evidence has been forthcoming that no- ; thing short of these simple, elemen- ; tary requests will satisfy the residents iof the King Country. To write, as j the Minister did write, six months j ago, saying that "the passenger business south of Frankton is reasonably : well catered for, and the few passen- : gers who would use the goods train could travel in the guard's van" is to exhibit a painful lack of intimate ; knowledge of the astonishing growth of the district wc live in. Again and again are would-be passengers met with a blunt refusal, when requesting permission to travel. Mr W. T. Jennings, M.P., instanced a particularly cruel instance of this kind only the other day. We ask cnce more: why is the King Country peni alisea in this way? Traffic grows ■ upon what it feeds on, and just so ; far as facilities are provided, will the passenger traffic develop. It is utterly useless suggesting th-;t the present inadequate service "fills the bill." A slow train, labelled "express," leav- ' ing each afternoon from Frankton, followed an hour later by a goods train conveying passengers, is absolutely i the only means of travel between Frankton and Taumarunui, except the night express calling at Te Awamutu, Te Kuiti and Taumarunui only. It is a 90-mile run with what practically amounts to a single train in the afternoon going south. On the other hand, we have an early goods going north from Te Kuiti, and the 11 a.m. : "express." And this has to serve.

On the Wellington side, with no ; greater traffic in prospect, far greater facilities are granted. We hope the petitions now being circulated will be signed by every resident :in the various centres wnere it is being circulated. It is imperative that we have the extra facilities. Let the traffic adapt itself to the passengers, and no longer permit passengers to be kept at the mercy of live stock or freight. Wc will then show Mr Millar what the King Country passenger traffic is worth to his department.