The Railway Department in its capacity as guardian of a substantial portion of the public revenues, is called upon to exercise some of the highest qualities of technical skill, of business acumen, and of state-craft. Faced with the challenging competition of motor vehicles on the roads, it might have chosen one of three definite policies. It could have stood pat, and calmly seen its business drift away, sure in the knowledge that what the Railway lost in revenue would be made good out of taxation. It could have cut rates to any extent necessary to defeat competition, thus saving its traffic but sacrificing its revenue. It could have abandoned the rail in the districts threatened and prosecuted a policy of cut-throat road competition. These were clearcut issues, but none of them exactly fitted the situation; for the economic factor varied so greatly between one place and another, that what might be right in the suburbs of Auckland would be wrong on the Canterbury Plains; what would suit for benzine might be of no use for potatoes.

The course followed, therefore, has rather been tentative; a compromise of policies to suit exigencies, pending the time when the relative suitability of rail and road for the different classes of transport work could be worked out on an economic basis.

By close commercial investigation the Railway has stood pat when circumstances appeared to warrant this course, and time after time has been justified by seeing first one competitor and then another wilt away. Again, after full study of the question, rates between special points and for particular commodities have been cut to a point sufficiently low to eliminate competition, but sufficiently high to be self supporting. The third alternative, that of meeting competitors on the roads, although a fullgrown railway policy in other countries, has hardly been touched in New Zealand. Yet, as the business of the Railways is the supply of suitable transport for the people and commodities of this country, and as the motor bus and the motor truck are natural modern extensions of the essential rail service, their functions should be definitely recognised by making them available to supply through services under one control. The fact must be faced that for small consignments over short distances the motor truck is in its proper economic field, and that the conveyance of passengers and luggage to and from the rail comes within the ultimate scope of railway activities.

Bearing in mind the venerable truth that where the treasure is there will the heart be also, and applying this to the fact that 25% of New Zealand's National debt, and over 50% of that portion of it which is directly remunerative, is represented by investments in the Railways, it is not surprising that public interest in the administration of this important Department of State seldom flags. The reorganisation which every branch of the service is now undergoing has therefore been closely followed, and it is seen that under the hammer blows of competition on the one hand, and progressive administration on the other, the Railway is being forged into an economically efficient transportation agency capable ultimately of handling the carrying business of the whole country.

The achievement of this end involves the free use of road motors for purposes page 3 of distribution from railway centres and within short-haul limits where this method is the most economically efficient. In order to prevent wasteful over-lapping which reacts unfavourably on transport costs, such services should be under a unified control, a service for which the Railways on account of their strong central position are particularly well adapted. Through service is the order of the day, and through service under the best economic conditions is what the Railways are now setting out to supply.

Hoarding Advertisements

Most of the criticism of railway advertising hoardings is quite unwarranted, for the Department has done much to improve the artistic standard of these productions in New Zealand.

In view of occasional adverse comments it is refreshing to come across a report of the proceedings of the Dunedin City Council. In discussing the question of hoardings Councillor C. R. Hayward remarked that they might as well take a broom to sweep back the ocean as pass a motion condemning hoardings. “Methods of modern business,” he said, “have come to stay.” Mr. Tapley (the Mayor) said he hoped Dunedin would not be the first city in New Zealand to turn down the Government in such a request. “We have a good name for enterprise,” he remarked, “and it would be unwise to turn the Government down. All this prejudice against advertising is out of date. If you are going to object to advertisements on decent hoardings, you should be consistent and do away with all advertising. Where would British enterprise be to-day if it were not for advertising?”

We note with pleasure that the Editor of the New Zealand Railway Review has asked for the opinions of his readers regarding our “Magazine.” This indication of friendly interest and desire to co-operate is particularly pleasing, and, as suggestions of a constructive nature have been asked for, the result of the request will be awaited with interest. It is, as indicated by the Editor of the Review, the desire of this “Magazine” to be of the greatest assistance possible to the staff with a view to developing team work through all sections of the Service.

A Locomotive Pioneer

The centenary of the death of Matthew Murray who was the first to give the world a commercially successful locomotive, was honoured on Sunday, 21st February, at Leeds, by the placing of a wreath on his memorial. Matthew Murray was born in 1765, of humble parentage, at Newcastle-on-Tyne or Stockton-on-Tees, and served his time as a blacksmith. His inventive genius was pronounced, and he was awarded a number of patents, the subject matter of which varied considerably, all, however, applying in one form or another to the science of engineering. In 1810, Murray was approached by John Blenkinsop of Middleton Colliery, and asked to build a locomotive to run on the wagon-way to Hunslet. The line was laid with Blenkinsop patent rack rails, in 1811, and the locomotive was built in 1811–12. It embodied an important improvement which has persisted throughout the intervening period of approximately 115 years, namely, the use of two cylinders with cranks at right angles. There are, of course, numerous three and four-cylinder engines with other crank settings in use at the present time, but the bulk of locomotives still have the two-cylinder 90-degree crank arrangement. It would be impossible to measure the world's indebtedness to such men, and it is a sign of greatness in a nation that it remembers their contribution to progress and keeps their memories green.

Conditions Of Progress

“If a railroad is efficiently to serve a country,” said President Crowley in closing an address at the recent Centenary celebrations of the New York Central Railroad, “it must not only keep young, but grow stronger year after year. A railroad that is not growing is dying. Obsolescence will strangle it. To carry the great traffic of to-day with the equipment and facilities of only ten years ago would be impossible. And it would be just as impossible to carry the greater traffic of ten years hence with the present facilities and equipment. The greatest factor to-day in the success of a railroad and its hope for the future, lies in co-operation—co-operation between the Management and the employees and co-operation between the railroad and the public it serves.”

Be inspired with the belief that life is a great and noble calling, not a mean and grovelling thing that we are to shuffle through as we can, but an elevated and lofty destiny.