In connection with the Transport Board's report, it has been pointed out that certain country railways have never paid and show no signs of ever doing so. The question has been raised as to why motor transport should be taxed to pay for these lines instead of being substituted for them.

The ole train puffs in once a day
   On the ole Gunn's Gully line;
In a lazy, leisurely kind o' way
   She comes in, wet or fine.
Nobody wants her, nobody needs her,
Nobody likes her, nobody heeds; her
   Usefulness is done.
But, wet or fine, or sun or shine,
   That ole train's got to run.
 
A man an' a dog, they loaf about
   To watch the train come in;
An' a man an' a boy an' a bag get out
   With Bowyang's ole cream-tin.
An' all men say wot all men know:
That all things are as all things show,
   An' the trip don't pay for grease.
But, come wot may, the Heads they say
   Them trips must never cease.
 
Now, to an' from the market town,
   On the new Gunn's Gully road,
The motor cars speed up an' down,
   An' trucks with many a load,
For there's the road, an' there's the car,
An' there's the chance; so, there you are!
   Let progress forge ahead!
But the Heads they say them cars must pay
   Or the ole train might drop dead.
 
The ole train puffs out once a day
   On the ole Gunn's Gully spin;
With a man inside, some days, to ride
   With Bowyang's old cream-tin.
And men ask, Why?  An' men ask who
The ole train serves like the morors do?
   But the Heads must have their fun.
So they shoves a tax on the people's backs;
   For that ole train's-got-to-run!

"Den"
Herald, 27 July 1933, p6