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A Boon to Farmers

“I think that the farmers of the district should be very pleased indeed to hear that the Railway Department has arranged to carry fat stock to Wellington four days a week, and to land it there the morning following loading,” said Mr. W. R. Anderson, of Utiku, in the course of a recent conversation with a reporter of the Taihape “Daily Times.”

Mr. Anderson said that, previously, fat stock was often on the line for forty-eight hours before being landed in Wellington, and the effects of this long journey on fat lambs, that had perhaps just come off the mothers, was most harmful. It was only on Monday morning that he himself had had some fat lambs trucked at Karioi, and was very disgusted when he was informed, on inquiry, that the lambs would not reach Wellington until Wednesday morning—in other words, after a period of forty-eight hours.

The change had been brought about largely through the representation of Messrs. T. Duncan and J. Webb, who had gone as a deputation to Wellington, and had interviewed the railway authorities. The train, so Mr. Anderson said, would leave Ohakune at 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week, and would arrive in Wellington on the following mornings respectively.

“It was hoped,” Mr. Anderson said, “that the farmers of the district would loyally support the train, and thus encourage the authorities to continue to run it.”

“This special train service means a big thing to the farmers of the district and many of us hope that the farmers will do all they can to reward the Railway authorities for their enterprise and consideration,” concluded Mr. Anderson.

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