THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29, 1908. AN IMPROVEMENT NECESSARY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9036, 29 February 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29, 1908. AN IMPROVEMENT NECESSARY.

Mr C. E. Daniell has done good service in drawing attention in the way he did at yesterday's meeting of the Chamber of Commerce to the inordinate delays which occur in the running of the trains between Masterton and Wellington, and vice | versa. Everyone who has occasion to travel by the "ordinaries" has also occasion to grumble at the multitude of stoppages arranged for, and it ought not to be beyond the capacity of the Railway Department to lessen them very considerably. Why, for instance, from four to eight minutes should, as is frequently the CAse, be wasted at Pigeon Bush merely to change guards on the down train is beyond comprehension, and why there should be stoppages at Wallaceville, Silverstream, Hayward's, and Belmont, is a mystery, seeing'that there is a local service between the Upper Hutt and Wellington. In the records made of three recent trips the minimum delay through stoppages in the 67-mile journey aggregates one hour ten minutes and twenty seconds. The fact that, whatever the stoppages, the trains generally reach their destinations up to time, shows that by judicious curtailment of stopping .places the journey might be accomplished in much shorter time than the present time-table provides for. If Mr DanielFs statement is correct, the time occupied in traversing the distance between Masterton and Wellington is longer than was the case twenty-five years ago. The resolution passed by the Chamber of Commerce on the subject is one which will meet with the approval of all travellers along the line, and ought to be favourably considered by the Railway Department.