The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1885. WAIRARAPA TRAIN ARRANGEMENTS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1920, 20 February 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1885. WAIRARAPA TRAIN ARRANGEMENTS.

W* have often expressed dissatisfaction with the Wairarapa train arrangement* but apparently there has been an apathy on the part of the public in thia district which has prevented any satisfactory reform being accomplished. There are, however, not wanting signs in Masterton and other townships of the district that people are beginning to realise that they are badly served in the matter of railway and that even the Dc partment itaelf is waking up to consider whether better arrangements cannot be made for developing local traffic. We have on more than one occasion pointed oat that the Wellington and Masterton railway is well managed at the town side of tl" Rimutaka but that north of the dividing range it is negleetsd. The residents at Wellington, Pctone, and the Hutt have constant access to head quarters and every reasonable request they may make is granted. To meet theconvenience of H utt residents then are afternoon trains at half-hour intervals, while at this end we take but two trains per diem at inconvenient hours. When Wairarapa people go down to Wellington the train service is so arranged that the visitor has four hours in town to do his business before returning home, but when Wellington people come to Masterton the interval allowed to transact business is not four hours, or even two. It is to all interests and purposes considerably leas ♦»»"» one, and yet, after Wellington, the Masterton station is by far the mast important depot on the line, and the one where traffic is capable of the gmstiist amount of development. It is a of notoriety that Welling. people come up to Masterton on hnrinw. aad that Featherston, Greytown and Carterton residents visit this town to obtain certain classes of goods which are procurable to the best advantage in town, but our present train arrangements strangle instead at cultivate Oil We ask the business men at Masterton to put up no longer with the which they softer, and which are retarding the progress and prosperity at 0* town. I*sy hm

only to inaiat upon ». more convenient train service in order to obtain cme. Why ahoold nint the afternoon train from Maaterton latn at half 'past four, the same time that the oorrea- . ponding train leaves Wellington ? If the Department in Wellington is asked this . question* jukl the queatkm haa frequently been pot to it, ; the answer is, "we would have to keep the employees at the Welstatioa; a couple of houzs longer, waiting for the arrival of the Wairarapa train." Of conrae at the Maatettou station the" employees have to rise early and late take rest, but Maaterton ia remote from head-quarters and it does not matter if men work long hours here provided that the home staff has an easy time of it. We believe the only real objection to altering the time of the afternoon train to suit Maaterton is the convenience of the officials at the Wellington end. The question resolves itself into this "Is the public convenience to be studied or the official convenience to be paramount ?" If the public of Maaterton insist upon having a train service suitable for the trade and requirements of the town, the official difficulty will be quickly resolved, but till the public rouse themselves to insist upon their legitimate deinand being supplied they will be at the mercy of Wellington officials.