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Lyttelton Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6504, 31 December 1881, Page 4

Hou»at« ought to be very useful to tbo Bailwoy Deportment. It i* not merely that the railway mmm Increases.' oouaidorably daring festive ccuiaoos. ' Thst, of court®, It * gram source of pleasure and profit to the official mind. W® hope it it not the only scarce. In addition So the actual money . gain,' there It the valuable lesson. People travel f*r daring hotid»y times, not only bMMflt they have the timer bat because the'fare* are lowered considerably. Holiday limit are, of ooarae, exceptional Nobody would ever dream of expecting to see the tame bostt of travellers at any other time, at the practical result of lowering farat. Bat there can be no doflbe that a general lowering of ordinary farm would make a eobstantial inoreaae in the ordinary traffic. We •ay there can be no doubt, hecaaeo experience all over the world hat shown that it it to. The history of oor own radways alferd* a striking instance. Aa soon as the frank linca were opened, a irafflo sprang «f which a few weeks before the opening no coach proprietor weald hate dreamt feasible. It was to the superior oheaposss of the railways that the result wae pertly due. Mach of it was occasioned, no doubt, by superior convenience of travelling, bat tome must be credited to the superior cheepneee of railways. This truth, however, seems to have been lost to a great extent upon the Government. They do not eeem to be aware that to provide superior cheapness and superior facilitioe for traveUing is to sow a crop which it sure of a bountiful harvest May we hope that the late great ruth of excorsioiuste who never would have dreamed of traveUing such distances as they are now covering, bat for the cheep fares, wUI bring the lesson in npon the mind of theGovenuheni The permanent official* art we believe, thoroughly aware of the value of the true policy. But the political heads are dense. There is soch a thing as too much caution, and the political heads of the railway system are too cautious. They always were reedy to spoil things by over much caution and a careful timidity. Inthe olddays, the donkey cart was the emblem wMdr the caricaturists consecrated to them, with universal consent. At the present day they deserve it quite as mock. A little more boldness would be a great addition to toe Colonial railway management.