The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1. SIDE-TRACKING TARAANKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 238, 1 October 1908, Page 2

The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1. SIDE-TRACKING TARAANKI.

It seems us ii the llailuay Department, ill rearranging the train services consequent upon tlie opening uf tin' Main 'J'i'unk line, puruoses side-tracking Taraniki. In his rcplv to the deputation that wa'tcd upon liim vcsterday, Mr. Armstrong, tin-. JJistric-l Trallic Manager, scim-oliiciallv intimated that the express from Wcilini-Uin to -New l'lvnumtli would lie dclaved an lioiir and n-Jiaif, which liii'iiiis that iu-tc.nl of tin; mail train reaching Sew Plymouth at 8 o'clock it will not arrive till U.M. 11"' iinnoimi-i ini'iit conies as a bolt from I he blue. II was expected an improvement in the service would lie eil'ectod, mil a deterioration. And the suggested alteration would lie n decided deterioration, in s„ far as the people of Taranaki ,iie concerned. While the present service satisfies all requirements, the proposed service would prove most inconvenient. ■Tim intention, of course, is apparent. It is to divert trallic to the Main TruiiK. •A lI.ISU train in New Plymouth means that steamers fan not leave the port till. saw 10.30. Under favorable civcmnstauces the fastest of the steame'.s on the run take about eleven hours to do the trip. This means that passenger* 'would not arrive at Oiiehunga till between !' and 10 o'clock—too late to connect with the Waikato and Rotor,,a ■train. Besides, it. would mean that Hip : boats would have little time at Onci lmuga to handle cargo, particularly if the boats had to use the cattle whavt after landing the passengers and cargo. And the live stock cargo is now a pretty considerable item with tile local I steamship companies, i We know that the rest of the train i services will have to be made suliscrIv ic.ii.t-, in a reasonable degree, to (no main service—tire lnvercargill-Aucklaiid service—and that the Wellington-New s l'lvmouth train.must leave after the j arrival of the. Southern boat. Under 3 the proposed arrangements, the train I will leave Wellington an hour and aSJiulJf later than now—at 9.-20 instead of 7.50. According to Mr. Armstrong, the service will lie the same in regard to ! speed, places and periods of stoppage, etc., as at present. There is absolutely no reason ivlvy the speed of the express should not, be accelerated, some of 'Ju minor stoppings-places omitted, and the duration of the stoppages ivt several of the stations substantially decreased. Wle hav;e on previous occasions showed Ihow this could be effected to the ?d----vantage of everyone concerned. At the present time the train stops for iifteen minutes at Pafrocrston, thirteen at Aramoho, ten at Hawcra, ten at Stratford, and so on. There surely is no necessity for wasting all this time. An hour might easily be saved in stoppages and by increasing the sliced of the Wel-lingto'n-l'aliiierston section, which is § slower than the Palnicrslou-New Plymouth section, and this hour would I make all-lhe dill'ercnec between a/atisfactory service and an unsatisfactory service. That Taranaki will rise as on" man and protest against the inauguration of the proposed service we have not the slightest doubt. If we cannot have the train leave Wellington ear ier ■ than is proposvd, we should certainly

wve the s ervice accelerated. \Ye must, disagree with Mr. Armstrong's statement that when tlie .Mam Trunk service is inaugurated people south of Jl'awera will use the Mam Trunk route as against the New I*l vinoutli one. To reach Auckland, a ]>cson from that district would li.ivo vo leave liy the southern express, stay at Milrtoii' for a few hours till the Main Trunk express came along, and rea-'h Auckland early the next morning. I'.y tln> New Plymouth route the same individual would save a whole clay, lie would hoard the northern train at nigh!. c:fk-h the steamer, and land at Auckland in the morning. In the one c.i.-e a man would 1 be travelling in the train

all day and night (about twenty hoii'si as against a night's journey of about fourteen hours. I'nless he were an excessively bad sailor and the weather weve rough, if is manifest that a travel ler would prefer the shorter, more ion venient, ami more comfortable route

The tenor of Mr. Armstrong's reply to yesterday's deputation docs not leu 1 encouragement to the hope that the improvements asked for in the local train services will be granted. According to him, this part of Xew Zealand is very well treated in regard to railway facilities. He compared the local

service with the morning (.rain, services to other centres, and endeavored to show thai none of these places were provided -with a train service like tin.' 'out! asked for. namely, a train from Silralford to reach New I'lvmoutli -i! about !) o'clock, returning in llie ovcn"c; at 1i.311 and on Saturday '.evening at 11.30. Mr. Armstrong quoted the niain services; he cnuvonk'iitlv omitted to mcii•lioil Ilia I le of llie tonus he mentioned were served by other early mornintr 'trains, and forgot lo refer to other towns' services. For instance, he said iK'Uiiitjr about Napier, at wliieh place a train from 'Waipukurau, 40 miles away, arrives at about 1(1 o'clock in the nioniing; or the train from YVnikuri lo Christchureh (4!) miles), reaching llie city at 0.47 a.m.; or Aucklaml; where a train arrives from Uclensvillc, ;W miles distant, at 10.18; or the UendcrsonAuckh.iul train (14 miles), arriving at 7.-15 a.in.; or the other early trains th.it arrive in Auckland from dilVcr;iit points. The early morning train from Stralford to Yew Plymouth, as pointed out by .Mr. Connett and others, is in

the interests of the expanding dairy' in dustry, an absolute necessity. Mr. Armstrong was again, astray in his idea of the duration, of the dairy season. He said the season only lasted about, three .months. He ought to know that the season extends over double the period. As a speaker pointed out. it would be a poor look-out for farmers if they only had a three-months' season. A good case, we think, was made out for the instituting of this inw.nd train, mid we hope the Department wi'l nee the reasonableness of it. Its inauguration should entail no additional cost, seeing that the Department, according to .Mr. Armstrong, frequently puts on special goods trains to deal with the goods tralli.-. The train could be rim to schedule time, with a passenger Mi' atlached, and the Department cojld then see jf then. W cro siillieient support lo justify the continuance of the

arrangement. In any ca„c, the Depart

incut cannot reasonably resist the claim lo put .on an extra inward and oulwaiil train on Saturday. This is a good business proposition, one really that should

have appealed to the Department-venrs "go. It is n mailer lor regret I hat the question of improving the goods-shed facilities —. sorting-room, scales for weighing dutiable goods, n proper weighbridge, etc.—«as not brought under the no!ice of the Traffic Ifanam r The absence of these facilities is severely felt by local traders, who are deserving of fairer and more businesslike Iroalniciit. We are glad to see the local Chamber (,r Commerce bestiri-in" itself -o early over the .suggested mail Cam alterations. ; ,n-l feel certain that the res,. „f u,, ,„„vi,-„.,. „, ~ ninttcv of such vital importune,. u jl| loyally second its efforts to obtain what is really only common justice for this part of the island.