The evening times., 1898-05-23
Women. waiting Rooms.

The Midland Railway Company has at
last grappled with a problem which has
long vexed the minds of traffic managers
that of the improvement of ladies' wait
rooms. An entirely new departure in ca
tering for women passengers has been
initiated at Leeds, says the London Daily
News. and should It prove a success the
system will be extended to other import
ant centers. 1t has been recognized that
ladies are entitled 10 comforts which are
at present denied to them when travelling
although successive attempts have been
made to meet their special wants. The
necessity of putting forward a vigorous
effort to remedy admitted grievances has
been impressed upon the minds of rail-
way officials by the extraordinary devel-
opment in the number of women who ha-
bitually ride in railway trains quite
unattended. Women nowadays. 1t has
been noticed, have no hesitation in taking
journeys, often considerable in distance.
without masculine escort. The rising
demand for compartments marked La
dies Only has emphasized this fact: for
while the mothers. wives and daughters
of Englishmen are beginning to make
freer use of their liberty than they have
hitherto done, they still retain a nat
urai reluctance publicly to advertise that
tney are uudCCOHlpdfIltu hey seek
each others company. All railways have
recognized their obligation to provide
waiting-rooms set apart for ladies. but
in very few instances can such accommo-
dation be described as fitting to the gen.
tie sex for which 1t is reserved. When
the ladies' waiting-rooms are not deplor-
ably dirty they are insufferably dull. gen.
orally dark. ill-ventilated and cheerless.
Many ladies hold them In so great alb
horrence that they will not enter them.
so disgraceful is the neglect into which
they have fallen in the absence of proper
attention.
Ladies' are even worse of in regard to
refreshments. There are railway bars
where a woman coming alone will not be
served for very good reasons: and. as a
ruie, no lady will push her way through
the loitering throng of men to the re-
freshment counter. Women. tco. at great
functions are at a disadvantage. They
will rather starve than rush to the re-
freshment bar for the food which they
cannot get elsewhere. 1t was for the
ladies especially that the tea-tray service
was Instituted on the Midland Railway.
making 1t possible for tea. bread and but
ter, at the cost of pence, or with hot
teacake (ordered by telegraph, through the
guard), of pence, to be quietly enjoyed
on the train. w. Towle. the manager of
rectors of the Midland Railway Company,
however, are desirous of extending the
facilities. confident that the more COM
Portable railway travelling is made the
larger will be the passenger traffic. They
have selected Leeds for their experiment,
because virtually under one roof the lines
of the Midland. London and Northwestern
and Northeastern companies run side by
side. There Is much interchange con-
stantly going on. and. with different time
tables to study, waiting at the railway
station cannot be avoided Determined.
therefore. to improve the waiting-room
accommodation, and to place it under
proper control. the company resolved at
the same time to combine with 1t a tea
room. and, what Is a still greater novelty.
a toilet-room. The latter will be much ap-
preciated. for what is more refreshing
than wash to the tired traveller, mascu-
line or feminine?