“Your railway, when you come to understand it,” says Ruskin, “is only a device for making the world smaller.” When one visualises the isolation of peoples in the prerailway era and contrasts the transport difficulties of that period with the rapid contacts made possible to-day along the steel ways of the world, Ruskin's observation needs no elaboration. But though the railway has been the chief means of transport for more than a century, there is room for still better understanding of its facilities and functions, and of its general capacity to serve the every day transport requirements of the people. The following article upon parcels traffic is intended as an aid to such understanding.

The New Zealand Railways parcels revenue for March, 1931, increased to the extent of £4,000 over that for February, 1931, and the inter-island parcels traffic for March-April, 1931 showed an increase of £1,000 in revenue over that for the corresponding period of last year. Behind these figures there lies an interesting story of transportation service on the part of our railways—the carrying of parcels from, and to any station from Opua, in the far North, to Bluff, in the extreme South. Parcels of all descriptions “from a needle to an anchor,” are given economical, safe and speedy transit by the railways. In the railway interpretation of the term and under certain conditions “a parcel” is practically any article that is transportable by rail—passengers' luggage, groceries, wearing apparel, bicycles, perambulators, sewing machines, motor goods, canoes and canaries, cats and dogs, and so on throughout the animate and inanimate creation.

For the purpose of assessing the charges on parcels consigned by rail it has been found expedient to arrange a tabular scale of weights and charges on a graduated mileage basis (on a continuous line of railway), as follows:—

Careful study of the table appended demonstrates what the railway “when you come to understand it,” can do when it comes to a question of giving economical service to the people. Nor is this the whole story. Rapidity in the transit of parcels is a no less important aspect of this service. For example, a parcel railed at 7 p.m. in Wellington is delivered at Auckland, 426 miles distant, the following morning, or if Invercargill (about 550 miles from Wellington) be the destination, the parcel (railed at 7 p.m.) reaches the southern city the following evening.

This aspect of the parcels service, however, applies only in cases where the consignor desires the speediest possible transit, in which case, for a slightly increased charge, the parcel is given express transit, i.e., forwarded by express or fast passenger train.

From the Railway to Your Door.

Another interesting branch of the Department's activities in this connection is the parcels delivery service in operation in various parts of New Zealand. This system has been established at Auckland, Frankton Junction, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Hawera, Wanganui, and Palmers-ton North, in the North Island, and at Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill in the South Island. By way of illustrating the advantages of this system it may be mentioned that on a telephonic request from, say Palmerston North to a business house in Wellington, for a particular article, with instructions that the article be given the patronage of the rail, the article, if it weighs up to 112lb. will be delivered by the railways to the door of the purchaser for the modest sum of 6d—this, of course, within specified limits of the railway.

How Fragile Goods are Handled.

A feature of the service is the mode of handling all classes of parcels. No matter what the nature of the package, the utmost care is exercised in the process of handling, particular attention being paid to packages of a fragile nature. Goods such as X-Ray apparatus, for instance, extremely fragile, are conveyed with ease and diligently cared for by the railways until safely delivered at their destination. Special provision is made, also, whereby parcels of a perishable nature are not loaded with packages giving off an odour which might be likely to cause tainting.

A fairly recent innovation is the introduction of a “cash on delivery system,” by which the Department will, if required, and provided the amount does not exceed £25, collect the invoice cost of goods from the consignee. This practice, as it becomes more widely known, is becoming an accepted custom with warehouses. The rate charged for collection, viz. 1/- in the first £1 and 6d. in each succeeding £1 or fraction thereof, enables the Department to transact this business with mutual advantage as between itself and its clients.

What might be called an off-shoot from the parcels traffic, is the conveyance of periodicals, newspapers, and stereotype casts. Some hundreds of tons of these are carried each week to all parts of New Zealand. The special and favourable scale of charges which operates for this class of traffic goes a long way towards keeping the cost of our reading matter down to a minimum.

Various systems of rail and road parcels services are also fostered by the Department.

Careful Packing and Addressing Essential.

It is perhaps opportune at this stage to offer words of advice to consignors (senders) of parcels.

First and foremost is the question of careful and secure packing. It is not infrequently found that most instances of damage are the outcome of faulty packing. Secondly, a complete and legible address is a very important factor in the prompt despatch and final distribution of all parcels. Haphazard methods of addressing are a serious drawback to efficient despatch and delivery.

To the uninitiated it would seem that the tendering of a consignment note with each package is a mere matter of form. It is not so, however. A properly filled in consignment note, giving, together, the page 41 full address of the consignee and the consignor, with a brief description of the contents of the parcel, supplies a wealth of information to a railwayman. He knows under what heading to classify the charges; those handling the parcels know how and where packages should be loaded; and, finally, should a package be mislaid, those searching for it know exactly what to look for.

Another important stipulation is to rail parcels early in the day. The last moment rush frequently causes confusion and leaves an avenue for error, no matter how efficient the railway staff may be.

Free Collection of Parcels.

In Wellington the Department has introduced a system of free collection of parcels for rail transportation. This service embraces principally the industrial area, three motor lorries being engaged in the service. An average of 3,500 parcels a month is collected and railed to the respective destinations throughout New Zealand. One service makes a clearance about mid-day, while the other two effect a clearance during the late

“I rock the ground with my thunder tread, Mine is the path where steel has led.
(Photo. W. W. Stewart.)
An evening scene at Thorndon locomotive depot, Wellington, New Zealand.

afternoon. All parcels, whether for the North or South Island, are accepted on these lorries, and senders are assured of the same urgency and accuracy of despatch as in the case of parcels delivered personally at the railway station.

Another interesting phase of the parcels service may be mentioned. New Zealand and Cook Island fresh grown fruit and vegetables consigned for domestic use enjoy a special cheap rate in transit by rail. The charge of 8d. for each 56 lbs. covers any distance on the railway. Similarly, dead game and fresh fish are also charged for at a reduced rate, viz., 7 lbs. (8d.), 14 lbs. (¼), 28 lbs. (2/-).

The popularity of the Department's parcels service is indicated by the fact that at one station, Thorndon (Wellington), the traffic amounts to some 10,000 to 12,000 parcels of all descriptions received and forwarded each month. The organisation, in the charge of an efficient staff, works with clock-like regularity, and this, coupled with speed and cheapness is leading to an ever-increasing patronage.