The tendency of modern times is to make travel increasingly attractive by making it luxurious. Work and travel do not go well together. Excepting for those directly engaged in the actual work of transport the time spent in travel is regarded as a time of ease and relaxation. Everything that can be done to make the flitting from place to place pleasing to the senses and emotions meets with immediate approval and brings business to the enterprise that has the courage to introduce progressive ideas to this end. And how fertile has the research of scientists and the genius of inventors been, in these recent years, in finding ways to make travel a source and purveyor of pure delight! By rail, road, sea, and air a constant competition is going on to find and supply just those things that will make the vehicle and accessories of travel irresistibly attractive.

In this connection, and following upon a series of recent progressive developments throughout the system, the decision of the General Manager to place parlour cars on two of the principal passenger runs in the Dominion will be assured of full support from the public.

The popularity of the parlour car specially fitted up for use on the Commerce Train which toured the Auckland province early this summer, was most marked. While other parts of the train had their ups and downs in the matter of occupation, the parlour car was the one vehicle which was always full—some times to overflowing. The reason for this was obvious. The car had a broad utility value—apart from the facilities it afforded for social intercourse—not found in the ordinary cars, comfortable though these were. The numerous tables were convenient for writing, games or refreshments; comfortable “occasional” chairs and settees made group or private conference easy; the books and magazines supplied gave that desirable, unrestricted, carefree atmosphere best described by the term “home-like,” and this result was augmented by the artistry and skill evident in the fittings, colour scheme and general arrangement of the car.

The decision now made to place similar cars on the Auckland-Rotorua and Christchurch-Greymouth Expresses will doubtless make an appeal to the average traveller similar to that made upon the members of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. The fact that a small additional charge is to be made will prove no deterrent to those who, like the patrons who keep the De Luxe cars on the Wellington-Auckland night Limited filled to capacity page 6 recognise that a good thing is always well worth paying for.

But the feature of modern travel that must receive increasing attention in future is safety, and in this the Railways more than hold their own. Speaking in November last, Mr. E. W. Beatty, chairman and presdient of the Canadian Pacific Railway drew attention to the fact that two million passengers were carried in 1927 for each passenger fatally injured, compared with one passenger killed for each half-million passengers carried in 1912. New Zealand's railway figures shew an even better result, with no passengers fatally injured among the 26 millions carried in each of the years 1927 and 1928. Mr. Beatty also remarked on the fact that railway accidents of all kinds show a decrease, with the exception of those due to automobiles. With a fuller understanding of the facts regarding their safety compared with competing forms of transport, and the additional comforts and luxuries that the railways are able to provide, it is clear that modern travel must swing back increasingly to the railways for all distance travelling by land.