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PASSENGERS' PRIVATIONS.

JHIATO TRAVEL {Hf'TOttAY. A NIGHT AT TAUMAJWiJUJ. MANY WITHOUT SHELTER. Auckland papers give particulars of the privations travellers are obliged to endure along the Main Trunk just now, as the result of o&mplete absence of any, arrangements having been inside by the Government to provide accommodation or to supply comforts in the shape of footrwarmers on the trains going I through the cold King Country before launching their pitilessly curtained train service. The Auckland Herald's Taurcmrunui correspondent, writing inet Tuesday, eayß: Conditions in Taumarunui so far ns accommodation is concerned have not been, improved in the slightest. The problem haß become even more acute, owing to the intensity of the cold, arid the sufferings of the unfortunate passengers have been almost beyond their power of endurance. Passengers journeying from Palmerston North to Taumanimii yesterday spent an exceedingly roiserahle IS hours in the train. No snow fell, but there ivns a rawness in tie air. Women and little children suffered agonies, and the latter cried most pitiably. They simply had to travel or they would have stayed at home. On all hands there were inquiries for heaters. The train from the south, arrived in Taumarunui after the down train, and 250 unfortnnat'ea were left the difficult problem of finding accommodation. There was a wish rush for the nearest hotels, and the passages leading to the offices were crowded with struggling humanity. The girl in one, of the Jarge boardinghouaes faced the storm bravely and delivered her ultimatum in the coolest possible manner. ' She held a thick sheaf of telegrams in her hand and pointed to a thicker bundle lying on the table. "If your wire is in this list in tny hand," she murmured, "I have a room for you, or at least a shakedown. Tf you're in the bundle on the table there isn't a hope." The fortunate ones dartsd off at once lo claim possession, and the others essaped the impossible task of finding accommodation elsewhere. Tlii preat majority fcy far of those, who arrived from the south found themselves in the hopeless list. One gentleman said: "I wired on Stindav for a -ronm."

"So did a hundred others." replied tho young lady. "You were too late." IMFBOVISED SLEEPIJTG PLACES.

The railway station was the rendezvous of the unsuccessful ones. The stationmaster, Mr. Kirton, did all that was humanly possible, and he accommodated about 20 in the waiting-room. Others he sent to private houses, the occupiers of which had opened them to the visitors, A, returned soldiers who had been wounded tried hard to secure ft room, and he was finally given a bed in the Taumarunui Hospital. Another returned man was lucky esough to find a friend who gave him a bed. A woman and three small children spent the night in a railway carriage. About nine o'clock three young ladies were seen making determined efforts to be comfortable on a long seat on the railway platform. They had only a rug between them. sojdier improvised a rough bed under a seat in a carriage. Others laid themselves down on the seats while others again walked about the streets the whole night through. The position was absolutely hopeless. The town simply did not contain the required accommodation. Every shed, disused backroom, storeroom, and even biJßard tables were made use of.

"I went to an alleged boardinghouse," naid one gentleman, "and the landlord told me that he had a bed but no blankets, and if I liked to And a rug I could take it. I took it cheerfully," he added, with a smile.

"A lady in one boardinghoule charged me half-a-crown for a seat in front of the fire," commented another man. Last night Taumarunui was viaited «£• ° n ? of the thickest 0I " thick fogs. With it came intense cold and rawness which made the plight 0 f those without accommodation awkward in the extreme. A crop of pleurisy and pneumonia cases Is expected by some. The north-bound train left Taumarunui at 7.30 o'clock this morning, a quarter of an hour late. Congestion in the yards was said to be the cause, and perhaps the fog had something to do with it. The hardier amon? the passengers spent the waiting time in iey cotdnp/s on the platform or joked with each other.

"Did you have a good night?" was the usual salutation. What sort of a night some of them had had was clearly evidenced by the tiredness of the eyes and the extreme blueness of their faces. The sufferings of some of the passengers were extreme.

The train lost time on the journey owing to the heaviness of the load, as so rmich stock were being carried. The fog lasted, 89 it usually does, as far as Mangapehi and Poro'-o-tarao tunnel, when the train burst through into glorious and welcome sunshine. A NIGHT ON 00NFUS10N. TRAINS ARRIVE TOGETHER. 9 Later. litter confusion reigned in Taumarunui this evening. Contrary to regulations the Wellington-Auckland "express" arrived at 8.15 p.m., a few minutes before the train from Auckland, which drew up at the station at about 6.20 p.m., over an hour and a half late. Hundreds of Taumarunui resident? turned out to see the clamor for accomodation. All the beds in tho town were booked by mid-day. The travellers from Wellington had the advantage, and yere nearly all able to secure rooms or shakedowns. But when the belated Aucklanders arrived they were in a sorry plight. The train pulled up behind the Wellington "express," with the result that the passengers carrying thoir portmanteaux and blankets were obliged to chynber through tho other trains to reach the platform, .and the eventual goal—the hotels. Then a frantic rush set in. The swift runners and those with liMle luggago generally succeeded in securing "shakedowns," but the late comer* lined up in queus of some 20 cr 30 parsons in the hotel passages and along the pavements outside. Until late in the evening groups of forlorn travellers, baggage in hand, could be seen wandering aimlessly about the strcSts of the township, Many have been accommodated in chairs, sofas, etc., but numbers will be obliged to malke use of ' the "shake-downs" in the waiting-rooms at the railway station. An unused opened this evening anrl relieved the situation glightly. Tho residents are doing very good work in

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19190716.2.52

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1919, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,052

PASSENGERS' PRIVATIONS. Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1919, Page 5

PASSENGERS' PRIVATIONS. Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1919, Page 5

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