In addressing the gathering, reports the “Star,” Mr. Sterling said he was glad, apart from the personal aspect, that the great responsibility of managing the New Zealand Railways had fallen to the lot of a New Zealander, for he believes that there were just as good men in this country as there were out of it. He was proud of the men who were associated with him. His was not a job for one man. It was a job for a lot of men, including those present, and he believed they could face the railway problem like one man and solve it just as well as the next man.

This was a problem everywhere, for the question of transportation was in a state of flux. The railways must continue to do their job, and the country would see the matter through. There were many problems to be faced, but the great difficulty he had seen so far was to get them clearly stated. Many new factors had entered into this question. He realized how much the standard of comfort had advanced, and the greater demands being made on the railways. The people wanted this and that, and though it was easy to want a thing, it was not always so easy to satisfy that want. He believed that the railways of this country had risen, and would rise, to the occasion just as well as those of any other country in the world, all things considered. The position was that the demand must meet the supply.

They were proud of the fact that the average wealth of New Zealand was higher than that of any other country in the world, and, taking everything into consideration, the New Zealand railways need not blush in the company of other railways. He agreed that he had a hard job ahead of him, but he believed that much of the difficulty that had arisen was the result of obscure thinking in regard to the transport problem as it affected this country.

The Financial Aspect.

He had not said that he would make the railways pay. They were not built as a profit-making institution, but as a service institution to meet the requirements of the country. The department had to put the railways as an asset in the national balance-sheet and in that respect they would be made to pay, as they would give services that would be worth while to the country, which would not be able to do without that service.

It was the duty of the department to give the people the transport facilities upon which their existence depended, at the lowest possible cost. The solution of the railway problems was a job for the community, and they had to be met in the principle of co-operation. He and the staff had to co-operate internally, and the departmental officers and the customers had to co-operate externally. He believed the solution lay in a more adequate understanding of the intricacies of the transport problem. He hoped to discuss with them problems of mutual interest. He thought everyone would admit that the railways had done yeoman service. He hoped that in the course of the development of the spirit of co-operation (which was the solution of many problems to-day) it would be his endeavour, so far as one man could do anything, to come into contact with the people as much as possible. He trusted he would never settle any major question by correspondence. (“Hear, hear.“)

Personal Contact the Solution.

It would be his endeavour on every occasion to do as he had been able to do that day—to come into immediate contact with those who used the railways. The aspirations of all parties being the same, they had only to get together in order to secure that fruitfulness of ideas that resulted from an exchange of opinions, and in that way fewer difficulties would arise in the future. To the best of his ability he would give the most careful consideration to every problem put to him. He hoped to do his work impersonally and without any feeling against any person who might find it necessary to represent strongly any matter on which that person might feel strongly. It would be his endeavour to give sympathetic consideration to everything that was placed before him. There were always two sides to a question (applause) page 11 and he had had the opportunity to realise, in his own personal experience, the other side of the question.

Private Enterprise and Public Experience.

When he went out of the railway service he became head of the biggest customer the railways had in New Zealand—the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Association. That association had a turnover which, this year, would approximate £6,000,000. It owned its own coal mines, milled its own bush, made its own boxes, and so on. Therefore, he was particularly fortunate in having come into contact with the railways on the other side of the fence, and to have got the customers’ point of view on the railway problem. (Applause.) That fact, he trusted, would be of value to the Government in the office he now held.

Loyalty—Co-operation—Service.

Taking up another theme, Mr. Sterling said he was proud of the railway men. Their loyalty to their work was unbounded. Loyalty was almost a tradition among railway men, and the people, he believed, would secure from them as good a service as the people any other part of the world. (Applause.) He had pledged the men to do their work, and he was confident they would honour that pledge.

Mr. Sterling went on to say that he was in agreement with the association in respect to an adequate transport service overseas for the Dominion, and he did not hesitate to say that so far as the Railway Department could co-operate in securing such a service the association could count 100 per cent. on its co-operation. (Applause.)

A Bend On The Famous Rimutaka Incline, Wellington Province.
The Rimutaka Incline stands as a great monument to the genius and audacity of the railway engineer. The line runs over the Rimutaka Ranges and is worked by adhesion locomotives on a grade of 1 in 15.

The Public as Shareholders.

In his remarks that night he had only skimmed over some of the main points of the railways, and at another time he might discuss with them some of the cardinal principles underlying the operation of their railways. In closing his address, he said: “To summarise my position, I say that I am assured of the co-operation of the great body of railway men in our country. I ask your co-operation as business men. You have a definite responsibility as shareholders in this institution, because that is what you are. Every man woman, and child in New Zealand has nearly 50 fully paid up £ shares invested in the railways, and I ask you, as the shareholders, to join with me from now forward to regard the railways as a great co-operative institution, in which you have a share and a responsibility, and in that way we will use to the best purpose the railways of New Zealand and give satisfaction not only to the users of those railways but to the general public, who own them. I ask for your assistance and for your constructive criticism, because I do not desire to burk criticism on any occasion on which you may wish to bring it forward. I thank you for asking me to address you, and I thank you for the patient hearing you have given to me.” (Applause.)

“Whoever has not ascended mountains knows little of the beauties of Nature.“
—William Howitt.
Mt. Rolleston (7,447ft.), as seen from the Otira Gorge Road, Southern Alps, New Zealand.