THE NEW RAILWAY TIMETABLE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1939, 9 December 1884, Page 2

THE NEW RAILWAY TIMETABLE.

Meeting at Cambridge. In pursuance of advertisement in The Waikato Times, a meeting of settlers and business people was held in the Cambridge Public Hall on Saturday afternoon to protest against the continuing in force of the new time-table, and to inaugurate a petition to the Government to return to the Lite time-table. There were about 30 people present, and the chair was occupied by Mr John Hoiighton. The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said that before commencing the subject they had met together to discuss, he thought it was due to the traffic manager, Mr Hudson, to .say that that meeting was not held with the object of casting any reflection upon him for having conceived and brought the new time-table into force. He thought, considenng the influence that had been brought to bear upon him by certain parties, he was fully justified in doing so. These certain parties who looked at the affair from a solely selfish standpoint, irrespective of the convenience of others, had got hold of Mr Hudson's ear on the quiet, with the consequence of which they were all aware. He felt convinced that what Mr Hudbon had done was done sincerely, in the interests of the Waikato public. Mr Clark moved, " That in the opinion of this meeting the present titne-table ha" not proved to be an advantage to the interests of the inhabitants of Cambridge and surrounding district, and request that the former time-table be reverted to in terms of enclosed petition." They had now had a few week's trial of the new time-table, and he thought they were all pretty well agreed that it was anything but suitable for the people of the district. Even those people who had binned the petition weie tired of it, and he felt convinced that they were now willing to sign a petition in favour of the old time-table. The great inconvenience afforded by the new time-table had been very marked within the past few weeks, and the complaints of settlers had been very frequent and very bitter. He spoke for tho country settlers and a Hrge proportion of the townspeople. He believed a petition had been signed, which few of them had seen, and this had been forwaided to the depart- | ment, and had the desired effect. That petition had been got up in a " hole and corner" manner. The hotelkeepers were afraid that people arriving by train would go on through to the interior that same evening, instead of spending the night at Cambridge, and so in this way they would lose a, few shillings. And the storekeepers believing that extra business to the hotelkeepers meant extra business to them had been induced to support them. He did not find fault with these people for trying to make all the money they could, but he thought the country settlers ought to be considered by the business people or merchants of Cambridge. Personally, he spent about £300 a-yoar in Cambridge, and he estimated that it would take about 600 tomisfe. to spend that amount in the same time, yet the townspeople, notwithstanding the inconvenience caused to the settlers, had been going for the new time-table. With all deference to local merchants and business men he did not think they had acted properly in this matter. He thought Cambridge would have been a very small place to-day had it not been for the countiy settlers, the tourist traffic notwithstanding. Under the late time-table, the children of settlers attending school were able to bring home their letters and papers when returning home of an evening, but now another day must elapse before they could get their mails,. It had also been argued in favour of the new time-table, that a man could go to Auckland do his business, and return to his. home in two days. (Mr Forrest. Hear, hear). Of cour&e Mr Fon-pst was an exceptionally clever man, something above the ordmaiy, and could doubtless do as much business in one hour as the rest of them could do in a day. Unfortunately they weie not all like Mi Forrest. Well that argument held good perhaps once a year, but to enjoy a doubtful convenience on one day of the year, were we to sacrifice oui selves every other day of the year ? The thing was simply preposterous. Mr Clark then explained how the old time-table had been arrived at. Circulars had been sent by the Department to the various local bodies in Waikato asking their opinion, and they had mainly agreed that the old time table was the proper one. And this had been in force for a number of yea is, and not the slightest complaint had ever been heard against it. He thought the present time-table was the result of a simple enor of judgment on the manager's patt. And it was also an error of judgment on the part of the townspeople of Cambridge, in encouraging Mr Hudson in bringing it into force. He had met Mi Hud sou at Ohanpo, when he was waited on by an important and very representative deputation of settlers. He could assure them that Mr Hudson was very much astonished indeed when he saw that every member of that deputation, including gentlemen of influence and standing from every part of the Waikato district, was averse to the introduction of the present timetable. Mr John Fisher, in secondi-igjthe motion, said he had come there to speak and enter his protest as a country settler. The people of Pukerimu had been greatly inconvenienced by the change. Hitherto they had a mail three times a week by the baker from Ohaupo, but now the train anived too late to get the mail by the baker, and so when their letters and papers did come to hand they were about three days old. This was a very great inconvenience indeed, and had bsen felt very much. He noticed that this time table stilted the Hamilton people. But then the train arrived in Hamilton not only about an hour earlier, but again the Hamilton people had a early train e\ery day. The new time-table was said to be a great boon to the business people who could go to Auckland, do their business, and return the following day; but they now found that m this respect they were disappointed, as it was impossible for them to do any amount of business in the few hours in the morning before the train started. In respect to •agricultural machinery, he did not see the advantage in the light of some people. He had nearly always found that any little thing be wanted done to his machinery, the Cambridge tradesmen could do it, and believed the same was the case with every other fanner. Mr Forrest ; No No. Not so with my machinery, Mr Fisher : Very likely ; but then you see Mr Forrest, yours is very complicated machinery. Mr Fisher then proceeded to refer to the present slow rate of travelling on our railways. He did not believe that the now time-table had been conceived in the interests of the Waikato public, but simply in the interest of the officials. Their experience of Mr Hudson was that he was an entirely different man from tho averago Government official. He did not look upon himself as an autocrat in his department of the public service ; he was always ready to lend an ear to the grievances of the public and remedy them so far as it lay in his power to do so. Mr Richard Reynolds quite agreed with the expressions of the previous speakers. The new time-table was a great inconvenience to settlers in respect to th§ goods traffic as wejl as thair mails, Mr J. P. Thomson said he had taken a very considerable amount of interest in this matter. As Mr Clark had said, the petition praying for the new time-table had been got up and signed in a. h.ole and corner manner. Jfc had been presented to Mr Hudson without the knowledge of a great many of the influential settlers of the district. He quite endorsed Mr Clarks statements that Cambridge was not dependent upon the tourists but upon the settlers and farmers who were the bor» and sinew of the country, and who ought to be consulted on this matter. He felt certain had the storekeepers and business people taken into consideration the probable effect of their action they would not have acted as they had in this niatter, They had been induced on certain representations to back up the four hotelkeepers, to whom the new time-table was said to be an advantage. He ventured to say that there was not one tourist out of twenty after travelling the whole way from Auckland by train would go on to Oxford'the same night, ho niatter low early the train got in. If the storekeepers only knew it, it was to their advantage that the, old' time-table should be reverted to. , At present; when tourists arrived all the shops in' the town were shut, and, no matter how badly they wanted anything at thp Btorea they coujd/ not get it; whereas, \l the train got in at a reasonable hour they would stroll down thft town of an afternoon and make purchases. ■ Mr Keesing thought the new time-table had had. a sufficiently long trial. To his mind it had- failed to afford the advantages expected froip ,it. { Personally, he had signed 'in favour it," but - he 1 now saw cleanly that it waf udfrorkable. , With the #aiti giving ■a^iyix.tt'olocki tfw incou«.

venience had been very groat in numerous ways, particularly in respect to the early closing movement. With the present time-table it was evident that would have to bo knocked on the head ; and it was very desirable, in the interests of the employe's, that the stores should clo?e at my o'clock. i Mr Houghton, as one of the storekeepers who had signed in favour of the new timetable, said lie bad done so on the representation of ceitain gentlemen. The storekeepers had not signed the petition through any selfish motive-.. They mei el y thought that through the hotelkoepers doing a little more business, so would they, and hence their action. But the hotelkoepero who had induced him to .sign on this representation had led him into a trap. He (the speaker) asked him to favour him with a little of his patronage, but the hotelkeeper frankly told him th.it he could not think of such a tiling, that it really would not pay him to get what he wanted in Cambridge. The hotelkeepers had therefore led the <»toi ekeepers into a trap, and he for one frankly admitted having been caught in it. On the motion of Mr Little, seconded by Mr Nixon, the following resolution was unanimously adopted :—": — " That a committee of the following be appointed to obtain signatures to the petition, viz : Me--,rs W. L. C. Williams John Fisher, Richard Reynolds (ieo. E. Olaik, J. P. Thomson, and the chairman, with power to add to their number. j Those piesent signed the petition, and the proceedings terminated.