FAMILY RAILWAY TICKETS.

Shannon News, 5 January 1926, Page 3

FAMILY RAILWAY TICKETS.

i OFFICIAL REPLY TO CRITICISM. The Eaihvay Board of Management makes the following reply to a letter which, appeared in a Wellington paper under the heading "An Illusive Railway Concession": — "The opinion of the Railway Department is that there is no illusweness about the concession, which clearly provides for one or both parents, and as many children under the age of sixteen in the one family travelling .together on payment of three, full fares. It was not contemplated that children over sixteen vcars 'of age should be taken into aecount, and this is clear.y indicated in the language of the regulation. There is, therefore, no illusiveness about the concession, and the whole question resolves itself into one as to whether any particular family falls within the category contemplated by the regulation. If it does it gets the advantage thereof; if it does not it is in no different position from thousands of others who are outside the scope of the various concessions embodied in the railway tariff. "The experience of the Department has shown that the concession in question has been appreciated more than any other that has been embodied from time to time in its tariff. It is founded on democratic and humanitarian principles, and is tangible evidence of the desire of the Railway Administration to extend its range of vision beyond the circle of ;" a.d. in order to make the railways play an active part m the general w» "i-boing of the community in the direc'.ion of bestowing a benefit on largo families of limited means who, without 1 his concession, would be unable to take a lioliday involving any substantial jou ,'ney from their homes.