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The Way of the Rail
Notes of the Month

The Railway Commercial Manager's office at Wellington was recently responsible for some arrangements, in connection with the transport of machinery, which have gained the approbation of the “Waipa Post,” as the following extract indicates:—

“Frequently people are heard complaining about the want of attention and the laxity of service in Government controlled departments, but the criticism can hardly apply to the Railway Service. An example of good service this morning would be unrivalled in the best conducted commercial business, and is a typical case of railway efficiency. A Te Awamutu firm recently purchased machinery from a camp some miles back from Gisborne and was confronted with the problem of transport from such an isolated place. The whole matter was placed in the hands of the railways with most pleasing results. The machinery, in four packages and weighing over half a ton, was delivered to the railway forwarding officer who saw to its sea carriage from Gisborne to Auckland, and the transport from end to end was completed within four days. The business of transhipment and forwarding at the various points was arranged by railway officers and the purchaser had no worry whatsoever regarding these details. Even in the matter of payment the charges at Te Awamutu included all items of wharfage, sea freight, etc. And the total cost was under £3. It stands as yet another example of railway efficiency and service.”

Satisfactory service of this kind is at all times available to those who have the good judgment to entrust their transport problems to the New Zealand Railways.

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Julius Caesar certainly “started something” when he crossed from “Omnia Gallia” to stir up the Briton in his native lair. Since 55 B.C. the Briton has become the world's best settler and traveller, and he tends more and more to travel more than he settles. Thus catering for the travellers of English-speaking lands has become a major industry. So far as New Zealand is concerned we can safely say “Let ‘em all come,” for no place can equal this Dominion in general attractiveness. Good clean cities, “green grass carpet” country, fishing extraordinary, forests unrivalled in variety and sheer beauty, lakes, mountains, geysers, native life, hunting, ski-ing—the whole world's playground in a country no bigger than the land which sent the first adventurous Britons to try their luck across the seas upon farther shores.

* * *

Our magazine this month, in its new cover and more national make-up and distribution, has been favourably welcomed as the proof sheets come off the press. Those most directly interested in the production feel confident that New Zealanders who love their country (and who, worth his salt, does not?) will find the Magazine increasingly necessary as a record and inspiration regarding the affairs of the Dominion.

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Locomotives are among the most interesting things made by the hand of man. The scientist and the mathematician work out the principles of steam applied to locomotion, and the practical designer, draftsman, engineer, fitter and mechanic have to do with the manufacture of the finished product; but what a world of romance for the non-scientific, non-mechanical minded individual lies in the sight of these power monsters, puffing impatiently at stations, whistling fiercely for grade crossings, hauling hundreds of happy passengers or thousands of tons of page 47 freight along the parallels of steel that gird the way through the most pleasant places of the country! Every new design of locomotive creates a stir of interest through all classes of the community. Hence the assurance given the other day by the Chairman of the N.Z. Government Railways Board, Mr. H. H. Sterling, regarding the new “K” class locomotives was greeted with much satisfaction. Mr. Sterling said: “The engines were at present being ‘run in’ on important goods trains, and were standing up quite successfully to the work. The engines were quite up to expectations, and their initial runs had been remarkably free from difficulty, and had amply demonstrated both the suitability of the design and the excellence of the workmanship in the engines.”

* * *

Better business in business picnics by rail on the New Zealand Railways is reported from several districts. The new “Picnics by Rail” booklet produced for each district this year has been distinctly helpful to canvassers and organisers of these healthful, friendly community picnic outings.

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Pastoral products are reported to be getting a good run on the N.Z. Railways according to an analysis made by the N.Z. Herald. This paper states that in 1926–27 the railways carried 962,000 tons of pastoral products for £990,000. In

* * *

Trotting races appear to be increasing in popularity. In Christchurch, of course, they have a very strong hold, but it is pleasing to see that Wellington is now moving up. The mid-January meeting at Hutt Park shewed 600 “up” in passengers by rail and railway road services compared with last year.

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Fifteen per cent, reduction in railway freights on live stock, wool, frozen meat for export, and some other primary products, is greeted gladly by New Zealand farmers, who regard this latest decision to use the national transport system to help them, as another proof of the general public utility of the Dominion railways.

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Keen-eyed for anything that might help him in his work, Mr. A. G. Lowndes, B.Sc., Sydney, Caird Scholar in Geography, was impressed, during a recent tour of the Dominion, by the New Zealand Government Railways posters displayed on the railway stations. As a result he has now obtained an interesting set of these as well as photographs from the New Zealand Railways Publicity Branch, and has commenced using them in public lectures at Sydney University and elsewhere in Australia. Mr. Lowndes is also arranging to have this New Zealand publicity matter displayed afterwards in the geographical laboratories of the biggest Australian high schools.

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The Dominion, of the 16th February, had a paragraph: “British Railways are the safest in the world. Only eight persons were killed in trains as the result of accidents in 1931.”

In view of the volume of passenger traffic on the British Railways this is a fine record, but a still more noteworthy fact in regard to railway safety is that the New Zealand Government Railways have carried 170 million passengers in the last seven years without one fatality.

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