If the period of the French Revolution justly earned the cynic's title of “The Age of Reason,” the present stage of world history deserves to be called, in all seriousness, the Age of Ease.

Never have the peoples of the world worked harder to make things easier for themselves than during recent years. With a vast increase in wealth since the War, has come a strong determination to secure for the individual those things that help to smooth the course of life.

In this Dominion, where the per capita wealth is now higher than that of any other country, the tendency of the times tells in the same direction.

Taking advantage of the great natural resources of soil and climate at their disposal, our primary producers are adopting, with marked effect, the latest discoveries of science and triumphs of invention to the purposes of increased production. No one who has seen a modern New Zealand farm and is in a position to compare it with the typical farm of twenty years ago, can fail to be impressed with the aids to ease introduced to make farming not only a more profitable, but also a more comfortable occupation.

In the towns, too, all kinds of short cuts for getting through the work of the day with greater ease and celerity are used. And in the homes the modern fittings and appliances aid the housewife and make the whole business of living a more easeful and luxurious affair.

When the question of rents is considered, and comparisons are made with the low rates prevailing early in this century, it is seldom that the benefits of improvements in the services available are taken into account.

Modern drainage systems, hot water systems, transport facilities available at the door, better streets, electric power and lighting, playing areas, and improvements in civic services generally, have added to the actual value received for the rents paid.

The rapidity with which this country, while keeping pace with all these new amenities of life, is shaking off the financial shackles of the war period and the subsequent difficult term of readjustment followed by the inevitable trade depression, shows that it possesses a radium-like vitality and an unconquerable spirit that would apply the cold douche to the most hardened pessimist. Such a spirit, in fact, as that complained of by the cannibal chief:

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“I shouldn't have eaten that missionary steak,”
Said the cannibal chief with a frown.
“For oft’ have I heard the old proverb.
‘You can't keep a good man down!’”

But returning to the question of comfort, it is noteworthy that the railways everywhere have been challenged to bring their services up to the higher standard expected under the new order. On our own lines great improvements have been already introduced, and others are under way. The newly designed day-car, described in this issue, is an example of what is being done to make for further ease in travel, and to assist towards that higher standard of comfort which is among the public benefits that lie within the power of our national transportation system.

This is one of the directions along which the Service may work in its effort to achieve the ideal set before it by the General Manager in his Dunedin speech, as a principal objective of his management, namely, “to increase the sum total of happiness in this country.”