Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, FEB. 28, 1895. Railway Excursions.

Manawatu Herald, 23 February 1895, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, FEB. 28, 1895. Railway Excursions.

I ♦ We do not know to whom the credit is due for initiating these cheap railway excursions, whether to a Minister or a railway officer. Anyway we shall be told that it ia by order of the Liberal Ministry and to the Liberals we shall be told to award the praise. So let it be. The praise that we have to award is simply that the Department has had the sense to put into practice what every business man has foretold would be a profitable transaction. It is evident from the manner the Government are introducing the experiment they have not the courage to " go the whole hog." They have •• sneaked " the experiment under the guisa of giving educational facilities to school children, and the working of the scheme shows that children of an advanced age also appreciate this new method of education. The question has naturally been raised why the Government have gone so half-heartedly into the manner, risking the breakdown of a good idea for want of a little ordinary courage. The proposal about school children and adults in charge of such children being only those supposed to participate in these cheap fares, has caused a lot of

nnn?cessary bDther, and for no good !"fa«on whatever. In this free and very independent, or dependent, country, just as the spirits of the reviewer may hold, everyone is liable for the success ot the railways, and any advantages offered for the use of them should be open to one and all. Mo taxpayer, because he is not a child, nor can own or borrow one, should be prohibited from having a cheaper ride by rail than ordinary because of these reasons, his money should be and is, of as much value to the Department as the money of a parent, and the extra room he occupies is as nothing when the train would run without him. The real fact is that these excursions properly worked, though much to be appreciated by the public, are good revenue producing means, and everyone should be put upon an oven footing. It may be advantageous to the Depaitment before running an excursion to enter into communication with a school committee, as their approval secures a fair support for a start, but a committee having fixed upon a point to travel to, and a date, all the other work should be done as is usual with other railway business by the Department. In the case of Tuesday's excursion all the responsibility of announcing the excursion and selling the tickets was thrown upon the Committee and though they derived no portion of the profit?, they were forced to take all the burden of the expenses. The Department will find that experience will teach other Committees to be wiser, and that if they seek all the profit they must in like manner bear the expense. We again express our thorough belief in the wisdom of these cheap excursions and trust that the craving after the dollars will not be tbo means of causing them to come to an untimely end.