RAILWAY FIASCO.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2008, 29 July 1919, Page 3

RAILWAY FIASCO.

CAUSES SERIOUS TROUBLE AT WANGANUI. Wanganui, July 28. The position locally with regard to the timber industry is becoming more and more acute as the result of railway restrictions. The supply of dry timber is so short that at least one local factory is working short hours and closing down on Saturday mornings. This course has been decided upon in preference to reducing hands. Indignation is being felt along the coast at the new restrictions made on railway travelling, to prevent what the Minister describes as “joy riding,” and it is held that tremendous responsibility is being wrongfully placed on individual officers in the railway service. Those who have travelled much on the railways since the reduced services came into operation, and have witnessed the suffering and hardships to which people who are obliged to use railways, particularly along the Main Trunk, have to undergo, are rpiilo satisfied that no one except (hose bereft to sense and feeling would ever dream of travelling under the present conditions unless compelled to. Yet trains art! crowded daily, which shows that people arc prepared to pay the penalty of (ravelling because they are forced by circumstances to do so. The wealthier classes, of course, are using the excellent motor car services provided by trading concerns. It is claimed that the new restrictions are likely to cause still greater inconvenience and hardships, one section likely to be affected being that which desires to meet their boys returning from the front by the transports.