THE PUTARURU PRESS. ’Phone 28 – – – P.O. Box 44 Office – – – – Oxford Place THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1928. THE ROTORUA SERVICE.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 242, 21 June 1928, Page 4

THE PUTARURU PRESS. ’Phone 28 - - - P.O. Box 44 Office - - - - Oxford Place THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1928. THE ROTORUA SERVICE.

THE Railway Department announces that in accordance with the policy of the Minister for Railways and the new General Manager, Mr. H. H. Sterling, big improvements involving added comfort and the general speeding up of the Limited express will be effected in the Main Trunk services.

This is just as it should be, and there is no surer way of popularising the service than by means of the suggestions outlined. It is to be sincerely hoped that such .innovations, long overdue, will not be confined solely to the journeys between Auckland and Wellington and Christclurch and Invercargill. The service between Auckland and Rotorua (including the main intermediate stops) sadly needs attention. For some reason or other though this route is one of the best paying lines in the Dominion, it remains the Cinderella of the Department. Despite the fact that Rotorua is the greatest draw from a tourist point of view that New Zealand possesses, this service continues to be overlooked, and the oemfort and speed of the trains are practically no better than they were ten or twelve years ago. The adoption of a fast night service, which only stopped at the principal stations, would be a boon not only to visitors from overseas, but to businessmen en route.

A poor attempt at such a service was inaugurated last year, and its failure can chiefly be set at the doors of ■ the officers responsible for it, in their utter lack of appreciation <ff the public point of view. Not only was this service not advertised in any outstanding form, but it was also most uncomfortable, and at times inconvenient through lack of insistence cn running to time. Were a comfortable and fast service instituted on this route, even if for a start such a train only travelled to and fro on alternate days, there is every indication that given adequate publicity it would prove both a boon and a paying proposition. The Department’s present policy not only bffers little inducement for travel, but plays right into the hands of road services.