The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1889. NEW TRAIN ARRANGEMENTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1889, 9 May 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1889. NEW TRAIN ARRANGEMENTS.

We publish as an advertisement in another column the new railway timetable. It is the most extraordinary document that has ever come into our hands. We have tried in every way possible to understand it, but failed, and we believe that there is not a man living who could without assistance unravel it. What then can we think of our three railway commissioners who cannot draw up a time-table that people could understand ? Are we to take it as a sample of their capacity ? There is one thing very clear about it. It bears on its very surface the imprint of the amateur; it is evident that it has been drafted by the SurveyorGieneral, as the references given in it are, modelled on map-making principles. In the maps issued by the Government under the supervision of Mr McKerrow there have been red lines, and blue lines, and this thing, and that, denoting what certaia'thiage

meant. Similarly in this advertisement. There are As, and Be, and Os, and 1,2, 3, etc., etc., to explain when and how trains run, but it is quite impossible to understand them. We advise our readers rot to try, as tha time-table is so bewildering that it is sufficient to unhinge the mind of the man who tries to unravel it. Now could anything be more disgraceful or degrading than that this trio could not issue a time-table that the people could understand ? We say unhesitatingly that the money spent on advertising this time-table is absolutely wasted, as it is perfectly useless to inform the public of the alterations made in the train. There is not one man in one thousand could understand it, and it is a shame and a disgrace for the commissioners to turn out such a document. Railing to understand the time-table we turned to the mail notice, and there found a key to the mystery. This notice is made out intelligently, and it occupies little over half the space of the advertisement. According to this notice we find that mails leave Temaka for the north daily at 7.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. That is all the daily mails northwards. Putting that together with what we can glean from the time-table we find that trains leave Temuka for Ashburton daily at 8 minutes past 8 o’clock in the morning, and at 32 minutes past 5 in the evening, the latter being the express and will only stop at Orari if required. There is something about another train which is not very clear, but so far as we can make out it arrives at Temuka from Timaru at 3 minutes past 6 o’clock, and reaches Orari 20 minutes later, but it takes no mails. We shall therefore have three daily trains running northwards, one of which will only go as far as Orari. Besides this a train will run on Tuesdays Thursdays, and Saturdays from Timaru to Ashburton.

Now as regards the south a train will start from Orari at 8.40 a.m., reaching Temuka at 9.9 a.m,, and Timaru at 9,50. At 11.15 a.m. another train will leave Ashburton, reaching Temuka at 1.41 p.m., and Timaru at 2.25 p.m. Just 15 minutes after this the express will reach Timaru, and there is no later daily train for the south, and no daily post after halfpast one o’clock. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays a train will run from Ashburton to Timaru, leaving Temuka at 7.18 p.m, and that we 1 believe constitutes the programme. The daily train between Orari and Timaru will run as far as Eangitata on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but the express will not stop there. Now can anyone tell us what is to be gained by this muddling change ? Here we have trains tripping on each others’ heels; we have two trains passing into Timaru within a quarter of an hour of each other in the afternoon, and no train to Timaru from 2.13 p.m. until 9 o’clock the following morning. This is not done for economy; if it were we should have some sympathy with it. The same number of trains, run daily, and there is besides the tri-weekly trains,, so that the expense must be greater than before. The whole disorganisation of the tram service has been adopted by the commissioners to suit the convenience of a few globetrotters, cads, and carpet baggers, who make the through journey between Christchurcli and Dunedin, and the interests of the whole community has been basely sacrificed to their convenience. This is the first taste we havo of the Surveyor-General’s—[Wo shall not call him commissioner any more]—work, and a beautiful specimen it is. We may tell the SurveyorGeneral of Eailways, however, that a greater than he has been brought to bis imees, and that a few muddles more will result in the abolition of the conmissioners altogether. The commissioners were appointed in the hope that, freed from Parliamentary influence, they could do better with the railways. They have shown no'indication of doing it, and the next thing that must bo done is to get Parliament to step m again and repeal the Act that has given them power. The Government Insurance was placed in charge of a nan-political board, which made a mess of things, but the next session of Parliament abolished the board. That, we believe, is what must he done to the railway commissioners very soon, and the sooner the bettor.