PALMERSTON NORTH RAILWAY TRAFFIC.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 244, 13 September 1929, Page 7

PALMERSTON NORTH RAILWAY TRAFFIC.

(To the Editor.). Sir, —In the statement submitted to the Chamber of Commerce yesterday of the traffic outwards and inwards at the Palmerston North railway station it is only by comparison with the amount of traffic carried by the railways over the whole of New Zealand that the figures will appear in their true perspective. The number of passengers booking outwards in 1921 is given, but the number of passengers inwards is only given for the last thtree years, so that the for the last three years, so that the falling off can only be arrived at with any idea of accuracy in the last three years. . y What we do know is that (Year Book 1929, p. 988) whilst the railways carried 15,315,640 passengers in 1921, they only carried 9,299,157 in 1928, a decrease of 39.3 per cent., a startling reduction which should make our legislators pause and consider before committing the country to huge deficits for new railways. Let us take, then, the number of passengers carried in 1926 over the whole of the railways—ll,Bl3,43o, and compare this total with the number carried last year, 1928—9,299,157. This shows a reduction of 22.4 per cent. Putting these figures against the number of passengers booking from and to Palmerston North, in 1926 we have 286,907, against 260,849 passengers booking in 1928, or a reduction of 9.09 per cent., which is less than half of the decrease shown over the railways as a whole. Take now the increase in the quantity of goods carried over the whole of New Zealand for 1921, 6,487,279 tons, compared with 1928, 7,366,762 tons, an increase of 11.9 per cent. The Palmerston North i goods and live stock figures for the same period are given, outward and inward, 1926, 283,307, and in 1928 391,486, In increase of 27.6 per cent. Here, again, the ratio is more than double that', of the rest of New Zealand. (f It is only a pessimist who would suggest, with the development already in progress in Palmerston North, that the figures would not s|ow a larger increase in’ the coming year*.—l am, etc., JAS| WALLACE, .f=r f Vice-president, j., P.N. Chamber of Commerce.__ . September 12th. 1 '' ' I