“If we can cach, at the Hutt Valley Workshops, save five minutes per day—I do not mean force the men along, there are other ways to do it—a sum of £6,000 to £7,000 would be saved in the course of a year in this workshop alone. Imagine what that saving would be if a similar result could be achieved throughout the service.”—Mr. A. E. P. Walworth, Manager, Railway Workshops, Hutt Valley.

This translation of time into terms of money saved occurred in the speech of the Works Manager, Mr. A. E. P. Walworth, at the first reunion of officers associated with the Petone and Hutt Valley Railway Workshops.

Referring to what Mr. Walworth had said about organisation, Mr. H. H. Sterling (General Manager) said it was a good sign that so many were found to be thinking along the same lines. The old order was changing.

Among the changes was the coming of motor competition.

Winners Of Coates Shield, 1929–30.
Nelson Railway Cricket Team.
Back row (left to right): Messrs. W. F. Collin (capt.), N. Johnson, V. Croft, F. E. Westrupp (manager). Middle row: D. Lucas, G. I. Summers, E. Courtney. Front row: C. A. Chapman, D. Bannerman, D. W. Hill.

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.”

How to Combine.

They were part of an organised system. Organisation simply meant the combining principle of an organism. It might be likened to the human body. If one part of the human organism got out of harmony with the others, physical pain resulted. A growing boy had growing pains—the workshops were in the growing stage, and some of the industrial pains manifested themselves in criticism of the kind he had mentioned. Sometimes the pain arose through one part of the organism not working in with the others.

A Typical Everyday Workshop Scene.
(Rly. Publicity photo.)
A section of the locomotive repair shop, Hutt Valley Workshops, Wellington, New Zealand.

“As a man fails in harmonising himself with his fellows, he fails in his job.” In his executive officers he had associated with him in the job of management, men who worked in with that ideal. It was possible that those who had to take instructions did not always agree with the decisions made, possibly because they were not in a position to have all the information upon which the decision was based. In any case, once the decision was made it was the job of those receiving the instructions to go right ahead and make the best of it. “I am satisfied,” said Mr. Sterling, “that unless you have men working with you who are doing their best to carry out the intentions of the management, and working with a will and loyalty to both those above and those below them, the management cannot succeed.”

He recognised that duty within the organisation ran downwards as well as upwards. The handling of men did not depend alone upon disciplinary methods. Sometimes it was thought that the only time attention was paid to those below them by senior officers was when things went wrong. That was a mistaken idea. The disciplinary part of the job was the least pleasant for everyone. “I always like to regard the men under me,” said Mr. Sterling, “as decent human beings who believe that I am actuated by the best motives for their welfare in the industrial and any other sphere, and I believe that you believe that! (Applause.)

Management-Sharing Means Doing Your Job.

“In publicity work the advertising man cannot do his job properly unless his work is founded on absolute belief in the soundness of the proposition he is putting up. We have from time to time in the past heard references about the staff having a share in the management. I have never been quite able to understand what exactly was wanted. If the suggestion is that the railways should be managed by democratic vote, I am sure it only needs to be so stated for its impossibility to be apprehended. If, on the other hand, it means that every man should be allowed to develop his individuality in his job to the utmost extent possible, then I say, without hesitation, that, so far as I am concerned at any rate, everybody from the lowest up to the top has a share in the management. As railwaymen, you should know more about the railways, their capacity for service and such other matters in connection with them, than those who are not railwaymen. The page 18 possession of this knowledge, as well as your place in the organisation, carries with it the responsibility not only to give the service to the people for which the organisation is designed, but also to impart that knowledge in order that potential purchasers of transport may have a clear conception of what we can do for them. “I ask you,” he said, “to stand in with me and my officers, and, whenever the opportunity serves, to put the railways case to the public. Then you will not only improve our position, but will help to stabilise the whole situation in regard to the transport problem of the country.”

“We must let the public know,” continued Mr. Sterling, “that we can do a good job. That is the policy I have pursued and shall continue to pursue. When critics tell me I must clean up this or that, I certainly look into it, but my job and your job is largely one of public education on the lines that will enable them to understand the value of the work we are doing, and its extensive, far-reaching, beneficial effects on public welfare.

Defend Your Department.

“I want you to feel that that is a job worth while, and though I hardly expect you to go out, as did the disciples of old, and preach the gospel of railways to all and sundry, I urge that you should never let a chance go by of defending and speaking for the Department. If criticism arises anywhere, the thing to do is to carry it on and endeavour to bring others up to a true sense of the position. I feel sure that, if that is done by our 19,000 employees, we shall get somewhere.

“Beware of little expenses”—Franklin.
A striking example of stationery economy in the New Zealand Public Service. (This envelope had contained enclosures for each of the Government officers shewn, before it was discarded.)

“This is a case for combined effort. I say definitely that no man can put the railways where we would like them to be in public esteem. This can only be done in two ways. One: By organised effort right throughout our service; and two, by personal association with the community. On this point each of you has a share with the management, and a corresponding responsibility. I thank you. too, for the work you have done in the past year. I have made many calls on you that might, at times, have appeared unreasonable. But you have never failed to respond. You have done great work under very difficult ‘change-over’ conditions, and I hope that the present year may be one of just reward to all.”

With The Empire Farmers In The South Island.
(Rly. Publicity photo.)
(1) Members of the Empire Farmers' Party at the “Sign of the Kiwi,” Cashmere Hills, Christchurch, on the run to Akaroa; (2) the Mayor of Akaroa, Mr. F. Armstrong (left), and Mr. S. R. Whitley (leader of the Empire Farmers' Party); (3) a glimpse of picturesque Akaroa; (4) South African farmers inspecting sheep at Pigeon Bay; (5), (6), (8) and (9) scenes at Lincoln Agricultural College, Canterbury; (10) Dr. Hilgendorf Principal of Lincoln College) left, and Mr. A. Steel (British Farmers' Party); (11) and (14) ploughing demonstration at Lincoln College; (12) testing wool; (15) the Hon. D. Buddo (centre), with visiting British farmers, Mr. W. Dunlop (left), and Mr. J. H. Rowland (right).