1 MAY 1947, Page 5

The decision that no seats will be reserved this summer

on any trains but boat-trains will involve the public in serious inconvenience and actual loss. With the train-service reduced, it will be necessary to get to the stations earlier and earlier to get a place at all. Several millions of man-hours will be wasted in this way in the next few months—at a time when every hour is needed for pro- ductive work. But the fault, I gather, lies neither with the Govern- ment nor with the companies, but with the public. Reserved seat labels are no longer respected ; the labels are torn down ; anyone wanting a seat takes a reserved one, and when its rightful owner arrives a controversy ensues which the railway offiicals are called on to settle. And railway officials have other things to do than that.

JANUS.