The Farmers’ Excursion Movement
The General Manager tells of its Genesis and Purposes
Service Gains Increased Public Approbation

In an address at Hastings to the touring Southland farmers who, 300 strong, have just made a comprehensive tour of the Dominion, under the care of the Railway Department, the General Manager of Railways (Mr. H. H. Sterling) gave some interesting particulars regarding the genesis and purposes of the movement and the methods by which it had been developed to its present stage of popularity.

Mr. Sterling said that a number of years ago a request was made for the granting of a general issue of excursion fares during the winter months. This was in order that the farming community might have the benefit of winter travel at low rates equivalent to the privilege granted those other sections of the public that were able to take their holidays when cheap travel facilities were available, as at Easter and during the period of the Christmas and New Year excursion-ticket issue.

The Department had not been able to agree to the above proposal because it was not practicable to confine a general reduction in rate solely to the class for whose benefit the concession was asked, and there would not be sufficient numbers travelling together to justify the granting of concession fares. Thus the effect would have been to lower the general rate of travel for everyone, and thereby impose an undue financial strain upon the Department. Various plans were put forward, by Farmers’ Unions and others, in an endeavour to reach such an arrangement as would enable the farming community to gain the benefit of cheap travel at the season of the year when they could most conveniently leave their farms, and, at the same time, provide adequate protection for the ordinary passenger revenue of the Department.

At last, about three years ago, a plan was evolved and put into operation for excursions of farmers by special trains. “This,” said Mr. Sterling, “was arranged whilst I was with the Railway Department, and the first experiment was made when a party of farmers was sent from Hamilton, in the Waikato district, to Hawera, in South Taranaki.

“The trip was a success in every respect. It ensured for the Department a sufficient volume of traffic to justify the running of an excursion train at remunerative low-fare rates and satisfied the desires of the farming community in one district for group travel at concession rates to a particular, place and for a specific purpose. The result of the experiment was to indicate that an equitable method of meeting the situation had been discovered.

“By a strange coincidence, by the time the first excursion was arranged, I was myself out of the Department and, as General Manager of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company with head-quarters at Hamilton, was in a position to see matters from the other side of the fence—that of the farmers. I was thus able to assist in forwarding the movement from outside the Department, and was very pleased to do so, as I realised the great benefits which facilities of this kind would confer upon the farming community.

“From that time the movement has never looked back. It has developed stage by stage until this year a most ambitious programme of group travel by farmers at reduced rates between one province and another and between one Island and another has been carried through. In arranging for and carrying out these excursions the Railway Department is truly functioning in its proper capacity as a service department of state; but it is also able to run these excursions on an economically sound basis. This is, of course, the ideal combination of purposes to be served by a public utility such as ours.

“We have welcomed the interest taken, and assistance given, in the matter by the Farmers’ Unions throughout the Dominion, and the opportunity for personal interest and personal association as between the farmers and ourselves, which such excursions have provided. We have set out to supply a service that will be of practical benefit to those who take advantage of the opportunities afforded.

“I am a firm believer in the principle of personal contact in the conducting of business, and always welcome any opportunity of dealing directly with the Department's customers. I have, therefore, page 14 been particularly pleased to encourage this personal contact, as between the Department and the farming community, afforded during the series of farmers’ excursions this winter, which are just drawing to a close. On our part we have taken the keenest personal interest in arranging details of the itinerary in every instance when an excursion of the kind has been under consideration.

“I have been delighted to meet you and find from the universal expressions of appreciation given by everyone with whom I have personally conversed that you have enjoyed every minute of your tour. It is particularly pleasing to know that the personal interest taken in you by our Passenger Agents who have accompanied you on the tour has served the purpose of making the tour enjoyable by removing from your shoulders all responsibility for the minor incidentals of travel which often serve to detract from the full enjoyment of a tour of the kind. It is good to know that the direct association between yourselves, as representative men and women of the rural community, and ourselves as the national transport service, have been of a mutually helpful and informative character.”

Mr. Sterling said that the Department had two great responsibilities—to provide efficient transport and to secure the best possible financial returns so that the burdens of the taxpayer may be lightened. It was impossible to develop without having, to some extent, to draw upon the taxpayer. He considered that the Department had fulfilled both the responsibilities referred to. It was now giving a service which was meeting with an increased public approbation, and it was augmenting its revenue.

Southern Farmers Tour The North Island.
Members of the Southland Farmers’ party who recently toured the North Island, on the Whangarei station platform, North Auckland.

It was essential that the fares for excursions such as that of the Southland farmers should be cheap, and he did not think they could cavil at the rates that they had been charged. Their all-round fare for 1,300 miles of travel, including the voyage from Lyttelton to Wellington by steamer, had been only £8 4s. 5d. No other system of transport could give such extensive and comfortable travel at the price. Mr. Sterling said he thought that the fares he had quoted would bring home to the public the fact that the Railway Department was still very much alive, and that it was willing to give every possible service.

The officers of the Department tried to think of the railways in terms of national service, and the public should do likewise. Excursions such as that of the Southlanders afforded the means of industrial and of social advancement. A great many national and parochial disagreements arose from a lack of understanding of the other man's point of view, and the more people were brought together, as by excursions, and the more they came into contact and exchanged ideas with one another, the more would mutual regard and understanding arise among them.

Mr. Sterling was heartily applauded at the end of his speech, and was thanked by Mr. D. Dickie on behalf of the farmers, for the kindness that he and his staff had shown.