The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1913.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 3818, 2 May 1913, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1913.

A number,-of? important matters arise out of the curtailment of the through morning train service between Gisborne and Otoko on three days of the week.. Upon this occasion, however, wo will content ourselves' with touching upon the question as to how the mail services to places beyond Te Ivaraka will be affected, and what should be done in the way of remedial measures. It seems, for instance, that the mails for Rakaurioa, Matawai and Motu will now leave town by the evening train on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This, of course, means that the people of Motu, at any rate, will .not get their mails till the following day. It is certainly not anything like as good an ayrangement as the present one, under which the mails leave on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and reach Rakauroa at 11.30 a.m., Matawai 1.15 p.m. and Motu 3 p.m. the same day, and there is ample time in which correspondence may be dealt with in order that replies may be posted to catch the outward mail on the next succeeding days. Thus it would oome about

The Mail Service Difficulty.

that mail matter posted in town say alter the train left on a Monday evening could not reach Motu until Thursday morning! Then again if one takes •the case of the Waikohu-Wliakarau-Motu service no mail matter will be in time that will not catch the evening trains on Monday and Wednesday, whereas formerly this mail went out on Tuesday and Thursday by the morning trains. Wliatatutu and Puha residents have also been placed at a similar the case of Wliatatutu there can now be a morning mail only on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. There will, it is also understood, be a mail from town for Wliatatutu on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. These combined mails, however, cannot bo compared in point of convenience with a regular mail every morning as in the past. Take again the case of Pulia, which, instead of en-

joying two mails a day, will now, unless a better arrangement be made, only have a morning mail on Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays, in addition to a mail by the train each evening. In the case of Waikohu, the new mail, it is understood, is now to bo taken out in the mornings on M ondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and in the evenings of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Before Waikohu had the advantage of a convenient mail every morning. Otoko is, of course, in, a similar position. As far as Puha and Wliatatutu are concerned the original postal service could be restored if arrangements could be made with the postal contractor to go down to To Karaka on the “off” mornings. But it would seem that none of the original postal arrangements need have been disturbed had the Postal Department gone into the matter thoroughly with the Railway Department and the Public Works Department! It appears that the engine which takes the morning train to Te Karaka (the terminus on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays) is required after its arrival at that station to proceed on to Puha where it will pick up a ballast train and take it on as far as Rakauroa at any rate. Why, then, should not the Postal Department seek the permission of the Railway Department and the Public Works Department to have the morning mails taken on by this “connecting link” (as it were) between Te Karaka and Puha with a view to their further transmission by the Public Works train on the mornings in question. If such an arrangement were made that would be the end of a great difficulty and would restore to the great "number of people affected the undoubted convenience of a regular morning mail. All that would be necessary to ensure that object would we feel sure, be a conference between the Chief Postmaster and the District Engineer, and maybe the stationmaster at Gisborne. In the past Mr Renner has invariably closely studied the interests of the settlers, and the same, of course, can also be said as regards Mr Armstrong, who has always been most willing to do what lie could to help the district. For his part, too. Mr Williams could be depended upon to do all iu his power at this end to assist in the maintenance of a postal service, which, if liable at times to be subject to a little delay, would, we are sure, be much preferred by the settlers to the one that has just been inaugurated. V hat would, of course be even much more satisfactory to all concerned, would be the restoration of the railway time-table formerly in force.