The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1882.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 976, 17 January 1882, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1882.

We called attention in our List issue to a much needed reform in the Wellington and Mnsterlon railway by the partial'separation of the goods and passenger traffic, In our present issue we beg to suggest a developement of local traffic which in our opinion. could be secured with advantage to the department and to the'public. A year ago we pointed out that the engine on the Greytown branch line was doing very little work, and that once or-twice a week it could run an extra train : be-. tween Fentherston and Masterton. The representations we then made were backed up by Mr Pbarazyn, the County chairman, and other leading settlers, and effect'.was'given "to them by the ' railway authorities establishing special trains on Saturdays. .These trains have, we feel sure, been a marked success, The cost of them is a nominal, one, no extra labor being employed in connection with theny and the only expense being the few; hundredweight of fuel" consumed by the engine. It may, hesaid now of the Greytown branch en-, gine that oil Saturdays in earns enough to compensate for what' it loses during the rest of the week. On Mondays,' Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and; Fridays it travels only about a dozen miles per'diem,but"on Saturdays it does nearly a jniles of work. It is quite evident that a dozen, miles. ;of light pulling isnota remunerative daily contract for any engine, and the' fact that on the sixth day of the week it can do a hundred, plainly demonstrates that it is a dead loss to the Department on five days out of six. The engine does too much on Saturdays and too little on other days in the week, and what we would propose is that it should earn its- keep everyday. If a "local train were put on daily to run from Featherston to Masterton and back, either in the mornings or in the evenings, it would assist in developing, the local traffic of the Wairarapa, and the support it would obtain would, however small it might be at first, more than cover the cost of coal : ing. Of course a train which could come up in the morning and return in the evening would: be the one best adapted for securing passenger traffic, but tho branch-line engine could not do this on account of other work it has

' to attend to. There may be sufficient local traffic to warrant a spare-engine i being employed, butthis of course,is a question for the Department,'/ All we, would submit is that J;!? 6 stepitakenin 1 develoj)in^;locaUtraic.a ; extra .trains on. Sa'^uvdgys..-Kaa prorcd a success, andHhitt tho-timelias arrived ■ when a further extension of accommodation to the sottlers in this district might well be'■granted, either by utilising tbq engine on the Greytown branch line,' or by placing a special engine between Featherston and Masterton. : If we are" not mistaken the Department lias plenty of idle engines suitable : for light traffic, and when we look at i the number of trains which run'daily at the Wellington end of the line we cannot but come to tlte conclusion that if they pay a third daily train between Feathorston and Masterton would prove remunerative. In calling attention to the separation of goods from passenger traffic yesterday, and.the extension of local trains to-day, we shall do but little good unless some' of the leading settlers of the district take up tbese-questions, In what we have advanced we are' quite open to correction, and invite discussson. either for or against the suggestions we have thrown out.- Eecommendations- like the ones we have submitted require to -be thoroughly-'ventilated and tested from more than one aspect before any. action is taken to give effect to them. We do not ourselves desire to approach them from any mere local stand-point,-but as far as possible to gather the requirements of the public in all parts of the district. The four chief centres of population in the Wairarapa—if they be unanimous about any question of railway extension—are quite strong enough to get it carried'out by the Department. We ourselves would be glad to obtain expressions of opinion from all parts of the district on the questions we have raised, and if we found that they were irreconcilable with the improvements we advocate;, we would, as far as possible, modify our own proposals to secure the advantages of united action in making our costly railway as serviceable as possible to the district through which it passes.