Patriotic Railwaymen.

During his search for new business for the Railways in South Auckland territory, Mr. A. W. Wellsted, business agent, recently found a community where railwaymen had applied the proverb “Charity begins at home” in practical form, states the “New Zealand Herald.” On learning that local storekeepers were not patronising the Railway for the carriage of commodities (in spite of a reduced rate) they quietly severed their patronage from all local stores and arranged for a continuous supply of goods, including groceries, from Auckland, stipulating that all such goods must be sent by rail. The storekeepers are reported to be making overtures for the resumption of the lost patronage, which was worth about £300 a month.

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Railways and Commerce.

Some very favourable comments were passed, at a meeting of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce recently, regarding railway activities.

Mr. J. Anstey said that the Department was to be congratulated on its action and also on providing better passenger services. He had travelled on the suburban services on the main lines and most of these had been speeded up, and he understood that the same applied to the Fairlie line. The Department had gone further than expected and was even stopping the trains at cross-roads, when passengers were waiting. He hoped that even if a loss was incurred during the first month or so that the Department would not feel discouraged, but that they would give it a lengthy trial, for he was sure that it would justify itself in the long run. They should give credit where credit was due, for the Department was certainly trying to meet the requirements of the public.

Cleaning Passenger Cars.

Great improvements have been registered on the Home railways in recent years in the methods adopted for cleaning the exterior of passenger carriages (writes our London correspondent). In days gone by all the railways followed the old system of washing the exterior of their carriages with water by the aid of long brushes handled by comparatively inexperienced men. To-day this method is common only at the less important centres.

At the more important carriage cleaning points, extensive covered cleaning sheds have been provided, a better type of man is employed for cleaning duties, and the supervision of the work is now particularly keen. Instead of water, oil is to-day used for cleaning passenger carriage exteriors, should the paint-work be too dirty to admit of thorough cleaning by dry cloths. After the dust has been wiped off with a dry rag, the cleaning cloths are soaked in oil and the paint-work thoroughly rubbed, the surplus oil later being removed from the carriages with a clean rag. In the case of particularly dirty vehicles, a special oil-scrubbing process is followed, which effectively removes all dirt, and is usually succeeded by dry-rubbing with soft cloths.

Apart from the desirability for constant cleansing of the exterior wood-work of passenger carriages with a view of increasing their life, attractive train exteriors undoubtedly have a considerable value from a traffic-securing and advertising point of view. Carriages which are dirty outside are usually equally dirty inside, and the modern passenger soon acquires the habit of shunning routes over which there are run filthy rolling-stock.

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A Slogan That Pays.

In spite of the fact that the world seems divided upon the idea of whether use of coined epigrammatic phrases to sell merchandise is or is not valuable, “Eat more fruit” has effected a radical change in British fruit markets. It cost the Fruit Traders' Federation about £40,000 to say “Eat More Fruit” to the British public last year, but the publicity was worth while, as £2,000,000 more was spent on fruit than in 1925, when the buying amounted to about £30,000,000. Meaningless phrases have no value, but this slogan with good health at a background bored into the minds of many and prompted action to buy and eat more fruit.