An Echo Of The Commission.

Sir Vincent L. Raven, K.B.E., who, with Sir Sam Fay, formed the Commission which reported on the New Zealand Railways last year, in speaking before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers made some striking references to New Zealand. He described it as a country which by Nature is gifted with every means for producing the primary necessities of life in the way of agricultural and pastoral productions, and is capablc of finding employment for many millions more people in its rich and productive soil, “It is,” he said, “a country which must be attractive to every Briton, so like his native land, if anything more beautiful, and with a much better climate—a country being governed and organised so as to make it attractive to live in. There is a field for British capital, and it could and should find space and work for our overcrowded country to-day.”

Voluntary acts that are the result of mutual understanding and consideration, are superior in quality and likely to be more lasting than imposed duties (writes Ernest I. Lewis of the Interstate Commerce Commission, in an interesting symposium of the views of Railway executives in the Annual Statistical Number of the “Railway Age”). The best form of Government is that which is called upon to exercise its powers least but which imparts ideals and creates conditions for that understanding which leads to voluntary action. The only worth while public relations work is that which establishes character and a reputation for good service, goodwill, fair dealing, courtesy, sincerity and broad public concern. Personal contact is a great factor. Public service corporations which are most successful seem to be those whose directing heads are known to be approachable, who have and who exercise a broad interest in affairs, and who permeate their organisations with their anti-quibbling spirit. As applied to regulatory bodies the term “public relations” involves the performance of our duties in such a way as to merit public esteem, impart assurance and maintain and increase confidence.