The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. TUESDAY, MAY 8, 1917 TRAIN CURTAILMENTS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 273, 8 May 1917, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

TUESDAY, MAY 8, 1917 TRAIN CURTAILMENTS.

"We nolhina extenuate, nor set down audit t in 'malice. I ''

ALTiiunui tin! reduction of trains in view of war requirements and shortago of cual is loyally acijuiesDod in by the residents of the Lower Waikato, much as they arc inconvenienced thereby, the permanency of the new arrangements, if such is in-

tended, will ho the subject of general discontent. \\ r u particularly refer to the existing cessation of the Sunday Main Trunk trains stopping at Pukekohe. It was only after years of agitation on the part of the Chamber of Commerce that i'ukokoha was made a place of call foi these trains and the privileges thus a Horded wore so extensively inado use of that they became a good paying proposition for the Railway Department and as the Minister of Railways 'the Hon. W. 11. 11 errios admitted, when in Pukekohe a few mouths back, warranted the experiment. On the other hand, the General Manager of Railways .'Mr Ililey" has always urged that it is through passengers that the Main Trunk expresses should cater for and not short run jia.ssengers and this is where the danger reveals itself that Pukehohe may have lost for all time the call of these bains. I; is our eonfention

that in a democratic country -in h as New Zealand it i* not only the tour-i-.t and the (-itv resident that '-hoiild

bo studied. It is xho country that

foods tiio t itios and .jupplios the material for export without which the Dominion could not exist and thrroforo it is the country resident that deserves consideration and encouragement from the Railway Department. It ha 3, to our knowledge, been stated by some of the heads of the Department that the call at Pukekohe on Sundays resulted in the evening express from Auckland being overcrowded. Admittedly, accommodation was often hard to find on the train, more particularly in the first-class carriages. But the actual circumstances are that the Sunday night's train is most extensively used by commercial travellers, the majority of whom do not go right through to Wellington but whose destinations are the Upper Waikato and the King Country. We do not intend to suggest that commercial travellers are not an important branch of the community but wo do maintain that the country dweller should not be penalised because commercial travellers fill up the trains. Further, if the suggestion is made by the Railway Department that a shortage of staff makes it necessary to omit the calls at Pukekohe we shall be interested to learn that a reduction of the Pukekohe staff can possibly be made. Their number remains and will remain as before and apart from an hour or so's duty both in the morning and at night on Sundays of one or perhaps two officials no extra labour is involved by the main ttunk expresses making a halt at Pukekohe. The matter is an important one for the district and if necessary the Prime Minister (Mr W. F. Massey), the member for the electorate, should be interviewed on the subject on his return to the Dominion.