The Daily News TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23. A BLOW TO TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 246, 23 November 1909, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23. A BLOW TO TARANAKI.

Those who have persistently advocated the obtaining of daily through train communication between Napier an., New Plymouth have been successful in their- efforts, but, we fear, even In must admit, it has been secured at a perfectly prohibitive cost. We have never been able to ece any sufficiency w logic iu the arguments in lavor of this

service, .because we recognised, .so Jon# us tile Departuieut declined to acceieiate the speed, that it could only be obtained at a eacrilice out oi ail propor lion to the prospective bem-liis. %m recently had occasion to ngrcc that the Chamber of Commerce, in a spirit oi »iiadvised generosity, decided iu co oper ate "Willi rahuerston Nonii and Kimiiv.i chambers in advocating this connection, provided it could be done by the. mail train reaching .New Plymouth iioi.la.ii than S.3U p.m. True, the I'namiKi o, Commerce aliortJy allorwardt, pcrceiviM its error, and roolvcd lo a*sisi ju ri

augurating the through coniiimincaiion, Ijui to oppose any delay m uii' uitk.i. ul the train at .New I'muuuui. in

ststence on uu; lauei 1 pi . ii.m, ever, has 1101 been in, strong a- n. in.y have been, us we now ,i.i,ira>,,u .. regret. lucre i» 110 iiluuuug mr llliU il' llie p)'OpLr-lJu mil ulnc-uinl. is alluwcd to unit nm, Taranaki ill general, uim die jii.u particular, a, very severe i>.u,<. „,u .11 .vlinister ill tliiirye ot llie jjiparuuen. .Mil nave 10 »iww mat „i« |.iu|n>»>i> have very strung naliunal ciann-, lie nind tlieni beiurc we will agree to lia.'e our provincial interests submerged. Candidly, our opinion is thai an unjust attempt is being made to "boosi up" the -Main Trunk passenger tniltii «l the expense of the more eonveniem steamer connection. The present scr vice, all things considered, lias proved 1111 extremely convenient one, and the speeding up of tile train, has been tinonly direction ill which a change il.tbeen advocated. Ally suggestion Itau. the time of arrival lit .New Plyniotnii he many minutes later than at present lias been opposed, and 110 one could have anticipated that the Department, would so conspicuously flout public opiui'in and public convenience. Wherever it is reasonably possible long through trains should be .scheduled to leave at ail ear,} hour in the morning, 111 order that destinations might be readied in daylight. This is particularly applicable to more than one 12-hour run 111 thu Dominion, on all fours with the Wcllington-Nci Plymouth journey. Now, however, .1 is proposed that the mail train shall leave Wellington 55 minutes later than 1 a-t present, and reach New Plymouth an hour and 20 minutes later than at present. Instead of accelerating tile train, therefore, it iwill he observed that the time of the journey lias been lengthened by 2-3 minutes. At present the train takes o'/ : , hours on the run from Wellington to X'almcwton North, but iiot it is proposed to occupy 3 hours 4S minutes 011 the journey. We are hopelessly at a loss to account for this retrogressive decision, unless it be, as vc have already hinted, that everything is to be made subservient to the Main Trunk requirements, regardless of the convenience of the people as a whole. -Much might he written 011 the penalising aspect of tile new service as it at fects the business community, by the late arrival of tile mails. Under the present system (he hulk of the comnicr-' cial correspondence of the community is attended to, if necessary, (m llie evening of its arrival, but this n ;e pr.i> tioally impossible when the mails ar? not available till about 10 p.m. Mure serious, however, is Die position as :t affects the Oneliunga steamer service. As has been pointed out in these columns over and over again, the present steamer time-table is the onlv one th.u ensures connection with tile Waik:tio and liotorua trains from Auckland. A delay of even "nalf'an-liour, whilst not necessarily imperilling the connection, still leaves bnt a very small margin. To delay the boat an hour and twenty minutes, however, as is now proposed, means nothing more nor less than lint file service is being squeezed out, unless the Department is re-arranging (he Waikato ami liotorua time-table !.j pcrnrit of tile steamer connecting Willi them. Nothing more serious, or damaging. considering the obligations of Ihe .harbor, and its absolute reliance on Mi" maintenance of the passenger servieo, oven in its at present limited form, could have been indicted upon tlie district. The proposals of the Hail way Department, whether the ment is aware of the fact or not, will probably have the effect—in killin" the steamer traffic—of necessitating 'he

JJoard imposing a rate to make -rood tile resultant deficiency in revenue; Tlife is a very serious matter—the mo.-,, so as Parliament onlv last rear "av? legislative endorsement to ;i 'large Vim Hill, one of flip features of which wis that it enabled the Board to reii,|.. r l>°rt fiolf-suppni Liiijs. From , ,-erv pojiit of view a grievous wron<* i< bobi / inflicted on Taranaki. bciiv' asked to make a maximum of s;HTifirr> for_a railway service from wTii. l, it ran derive absolutely no lienolil; ? H i( on tlx contrary. can only be prejudimllv af feetei 1. Tlmt tile injusli,. 0 will nol I. Accepted without vigorous opposition already apparent, for it is doubtful : any question of public interest of Int. has aroused so unnnimouslv vigorous i storm of protest. We trust iimnedhil, aelion will be taken to eonsol "late tlic opposition of tile pi") viuee, in order that such pn-s sure may lie brought to bear on tin riovernment as nvill lead lo Hie Tiailwn Department revising tin- retroiiresfiivi (inie-talile.