THE Kaipara Advertiser. AND WAITEMATA CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 4, 1914. THE KAIPARA LINE.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 4 February 1914, Page 2

THE Kaipara Advertiser. AND WAITEMATA CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 4, 1914. THE KAIPARA LINE.

It is quite clear that some people don't know when they are well off. It is not many years since there was a great hue and cry about the railway reaching Elelensville, and ever since its opening it has been one continuous growl —that the trains are slow, the carriages unfit to be scheduled even as "third-class," and that the service is wretched .! Why "what in the world do t,h« people want ? And Aucklanders too are the worst and mostv persistant growlers. We in Helensville, are satisfied with anything ! Any ancient methods ; any okt railway station with a set of rails running in all directions, for all the world like a flattened-out corkscrew ; and "carriages about good enough for coal-heavers just knocking off work. While, as for speed, Auckland travellers ought to be more consistent and not expect trains North of Auckland to run faster than say teg miles an hour and so jeopardise "life and limb, and take the breath out of drivers, firemen, guards and passengers alike. The idea is preposterous, and cannot be altered to suit the whims of " fast '; people, unless the great, new general railway Manager, M.r Hiley, imported at a salary of £3,000, with atravelling allowance of 21s a day and an Observation. Car all on his own, were to come along. Save us from our friends. No. we do not want to experience such an earth-quake as such an innovation would undoubtedly

cause. [Mr Hiley has since paid us a flying visit, 'but that is all.]

But joking apart, our friends and readers must wake up now to the fact that the train service—with all its draw-backs is keeping the whole district back —as it was, say forty years ago, "and a change must come about. If the railways are to belong to Hiley, then it must be thrust down his throat that if this end is to be worked at present much longer, the people shall raise such a shindy that he will get no'sleep, and we have always got Auckland with us to back

up our wants in this respect. On the other hand candidates seeking the suffrages of the people up this way, the Premier and all his crew shall have no hearing unless the district "gets railway reform included in the new bill of fare —"The people cannot be fooled all the time."