The Little Things That Count
A Fine Tribute from Mr. J. E. Purchase, Principal of the Teachers’ Training College, Christchurch

I wish to express my appreciation of the kindness shown by the Little River railway officials to a party of students who were tramping the Peninsula during the holidays just passed. We reached Little River after a wet tramp from Wainui about two-and-a-half hours before the train was due to leave for Christchurch. As we were all more or less wet the prospect of a cold wait in wet clothes was most uninviting. The Stationmaster came to our aid and by putting on good fires enabled both men and women to change and dry, thus helping to prevent any serious consequences from sitting about in wet things. This is probably a trivial matter to write about, but it made a considerable difference to us, and I think kindness and courtesy should be acknowledged at least as quickly as complaints are made. I would not on the other hand like it to be inferred that kindness and courtesy from Railway officials are such rare phenomena that they warrant special notice. Such treatment is invariably associated with my experience with your branch of the Public Service.