Little Brother Arrives.

In relation to that, railwaymen felt that the railways were in the position of an only son having to share a heritage when a little brother arrived. This little brother was growing up to vigorous manhood; his rights could not be denied, he had to have them. But what the railways could help to do was to make their joint heritage bigger, so that when the little brother grew up he would get his share, while the railways’ share would be no less. (Applause.) “It is our business to make the railways of greater and greater use to the public. They are still a power in the country, and they will continue to be that while the railways loyally continue to do the country's work.”

Mr. Sterling acknowledged the tribute paid to those who had planned the workshops, and those who had carried them through. They had come through a storm of criticism, much of it ill-informed. Most of the critics failed to recognise that the men were entitled to have the tools and facilities which modern inventions could supply, and decent industrial surroundings. So far as that went, goodness was but a relative term — what was good enough yesterday was not good enough to-day. He complimented the Works Manager on the standard that has been set in the new shops, and said that he felt sure his efforts were appreciated by those under him. There were obligations associated with improvements such as had been effected in the Hutt Valley Workshops. “As you get the means for more efficiency, more efficiency is expected. As the material standard of the conditions under which you work is raised, so must there be an improvement in the production standard. As a man at the present day is a different being from what he was in the time of, say, Edward III., so must his methods in the point of organisation in relation to industry be different, and continuously progressive.”