THE NEW TIME-TABLE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9674, 13 December 1909, Page 3

THE NEW TIME-TABLE.

DISCUSSION IN THE HOUSE

Speaking in the House of Representatives on Friday last, Mr Buchanan (Wairarapa) urged that before altering the Wairarapa time-table the Department should have considered what the requirements of school children were. No request had been made to the Wellington Education Board for information on this hcac 1 . 'lhe Postal Department should also have been consulted. Every member should encourage Mr Millar to see that the railways paid, but in regard to reductions which had been made the Wairarapa had unduly suffered. Before the diversion of traffic from tbe Walraarapa line it paid handsomely. Even now the line was paying just as well as prior to the connection with Woodville. He would suggest to Mr Millar that he should watch the traffic on the line closely, and if he found that too much had heen done in the way of reduction he should as sooi> as possible reinstate two or three of the trains. Mr Bogg (Masterton) referred to tbe ill-effect on tho schools in the Wellington district of the recent changes in the railway time-tables. It was his opinion that the alterations on the Wairarapa line had been too sudden, too severe. Residents of Eketahuna, for instance, could not reply in one day to a letter received from Wellington, although the distance was not 100 miles. Mr Millar said the Wairarapa trains had been for years one of the best paying lines, but that was because of the timber trade, which had now fallen off in the Wairarapa. The extension of the train to Eketahuna would require a very large expenditure, which would not be justified by the traffic.

A letter from the secretary of the Masterton District High School Committee, complaining of the new railway time-table, was read at Friday's meeting of the Wellington Education Board. The letter stated that in consequence of the alterations, ten pupils who had gained free places in the secondary classes at Masterton would be prevented from attending the school, and that number would be increased after the holidays. The committee understood that the GreytoW'i District High School would also be largely affected. The committee had written to the Minister for Education, placing the position before him. The board was asked tn asear tain what steps the Minister pruposde to take to remedy the state of affairs. The matter was urgent, as the children were losing their education. Mr A. H. Vile considered that the board should back up the Masterton Chamber of Commerce and the schuol committee in regard to the timetable. The new order of things would injuie the sefondary department. Mr A. W. Hogg, M.f., said the new time-table was doing an injustice to the young people living along the railway line. They could not now receive the education they were entitled to. It was decided to forward the correspondence to the Minister for Kailways.