OUR FAILWAYS

NZ Truth, Issue 1178, 28 June 1928, Page 6

OUR FAILWAYS

Otherwise Known As Snailways (From "N.Z. Truth's" Auckland Rep.) A member of the Auckland pubMo recently expressed himself In one of the daily organs of "public opinion" as having been alarmed at the speed of a certain tram m which he had the good fortune to travel. MANY citizens, reading the note of *"* alarm sounded by this epistle, came to the conclusion that the ■writer had been a constant traveller on the New Zealand Failways. ' It was even suggested to "N.Z. Truth" that the unhappy individual had resided for many years on the Helensville line. ■ If this happened to be the case, his • alarm and the shock he received can readily be understood. . : Speed is a thing unheard-of on that thirty-eight miles run-Lwalk would be a better term — to the spa, which lies at the northern gate of the Queen City. There are, of course, hundreds of people who have no desire to visit that dreary, untidy, ramshackle township on the banks of the Kaipara river. There are, too, those who must perforce go there for the cure which the mineral water effects, but who rarely, display any enthusiasm to return. This does not apply to confirmed week-enders who will go anywhere rather than go nowhere at all— and there are certain inducements which it would be unwise to mention. But as a honeymoon reaort, when a , more distant journey would be Inconvenient, for .instance ... That Helensville is not more popular or beautiful; that it is barren of trees; that so little has been made of the possibilities as a spa of wonderful curative value — this has a very great deal to do with the abominable railway service under which it has suffered ever since the line ran north under the control of a Government which still believes that it has an aptitude for , business .> . . when there Is public money to play with. ■ \ With all this talk of railway improvement, what would be better than to make a showing on this thirty-eight .;■ miles of line? , It might be used as an example; a sort of kindergarten lesson on which to make a start. More* than that, it might be wisdom to tackle something which would not give the New .Zealand public too much of a shock at the commencement. JUST CRAWLING ALONG It is never considered wise to give a ; starving man a full meal to relieve his pangs. Atj the present time, the average speed on the Helensville line never exceeds fifteen miles .an hour; generally, it contents itself with twelve Of thirteen miles ah hour— r-less than the pace of a good horse at the gallop. : The time taken for long-suffer-ing suburbanites to reach town or home from Henderson / is still more ghastly. ' , This journey of fourteen miles takes one hour. and seven minutes on some of the trains, while on others it is never less than fifty-nine minutes. .. Swanson is not much better off, an hour and ten minutes . being taken to coyer the seventeen miles of the jour- :■; ney, -while the early morning train inflicts itself on the worker for one hour and twenty-five mintites — or,, an .hgur,. and six minutes into town. • "' : " It has been, said that it was on the Helehsvilie line that the Story of the ; : irritable travelled and its origin; - Exasperated _at the long wait for his train, he aslted the stationmaster-porter-shunter how long it would be before the train arrived. "It won't be long now," was the re-' ply.; "Here comes the engine-driver's . little dog a-running up the line now." Between Glen Eden and Waitakere there is great scope for healthful suburbs on the lower slopes of the ranges, but at the present rate of railway travel — and the suppression of any serious competition which is at any time likely by our . business Government—there is little hope that Auck-. land will grow to the north. From Glen Eden itself, .it takes the Government conveyance from forty- . six to sixty-five minutes to cover eleven miles I The excessive cost of the journey is m contrast to its speed—second-class fare (single) being one shilling and twopence! "N.Z. Truth" contends that the Helensville journey should not take one minute longer than an hour and a- half at the outside. If such a howling speed (for N.Z. Railways) were set, it I would make that town something [approaching what it should be — a spa at which business people from Auckland could live, while those who [required the waters could take their treatment morning and evening. ; IRON HORSE SCRATCHED There is little imagination required t6 appreciate what use such people as the Romans would have made of a mineral-water resort such as Helensville — yet there are those who consider that they were less civilized than we are to-day. : ButMf the use we have made of such health-giving waters is itaken m relation, to our numbers and so-called civilization, the Romans, have left us standing. i , Never has it been the policy of this country f with its experiments m business ventures, to break the trail into new country witlvthe ' iron horse. The reverse is, m fact, the unpalatable truth.; , Pioneer men and brave women have gone into the backblocks of New Zealand and carved out homes, hoping against hope that the day was close at hand when they could; be linked up with the cities, but theirs was one succession ' of heart-breaking disappointments, for they, were all too often left roadless and railless until time had taken the toll pt their struggling lives. ; This, one can venture to surmisethat if the State railways had never existed, this Dominion would have a different tale to tell to-day, a more prosperous tale, with no millstone of railroad deficiencies around the neck of long-suffering inhabitants.