THE PUBLIC'S CONVENIENCE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 24, 2 June 1913, Page 4

THE PUBLIC'S CONVENIENCE

So long hs inc. general public are admitted to railway station platforms without restriction—and it is difficult to see liovv any restriction can be imposed at stations outside the large ; centres—so long will there be occasional inconvenience, overcrowding andj i annoyance to i those who have legitimate .business necessitating their ! attendance on the. occasion' of the' arrival and departure of trains, l&t i : the local station on. Saturday evening on the arrival of the mail train, an exceptionally big crowd gathered on the platform. ■ The home-coming of the Territorials from the "casual'' camp at Oringi more than anything else had to do with the crush, no doubt, and under the circumstances mothers and sweethearts, . brothers and comrades-in-arms might well be allowed a little latitude. But to add to the crush and discomfiture, the postal officials bustled their way from one end of the platform to the other —at least, for the whole length, and more, of the train—with a hand cart stacked with mail baggage. They saved their reputation for courtesy with repeated "by-yer-leaves," and stuck to their work like sealing wax, meantime missing hundreds of toes by the thickness of a ha'penny stamp. Words too numerous for print found expression, but the point of the remarks was—" Why should this be?" The niail van on the train pulls up within a few yards of the Regan Street exit, but night after night the Department pushes its barrow along the station, annoying travellers, parting friends, and calling down upon itself anathemas not loud but deep. The people, who, by the way, own the railways as well as the post and telegraphs are beginning to think that it if about time there was a change in these methods. It cannot be maintained with any great degree of solid argument that any old thing which was good enough for Stratford a year, or a month, or a week ago, even, for that matter, must be the proper arrangement to-day. This is written in no querulous spirit, and now that attention has been drawn to the matter, we have no doubt that this branch of the State services—a branch which more than any of the others, prides itself on being up-to-date—will soon see some way of making itself lest evident on the station platform. Of course we do not blame the official* with the niail-carts— they simply follow up an old custom; but it certainly might b 3 improved upon.