New Beginnings

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss….”

The above is among the hardest of the Kipling specifications that go to constitute a man. Still more so would it be for the making of a nation. But in every individual and nation, if they are to live and progress, there must be that will to overcome set-backs and to make new beginnings which partakes of the essence of virility.

The New Year forms a point in time when there is a natural tendency to make a fresh start. It is then that most people, looking over the hits and misses of the previous twelve months, take heart of grace to cut the losses and plan for a better and more profitable time ahead.

And that is a wise thing to do. For, looking backward, and grieving over what actually happened and comparing it with what might have been, is largely a waste of that nice new clean slice of time which the New Year brings, and which, even in the most favourable year, never divides up into more than 366 twenty-four hour days, of which a third must be slept through anyway.

The knowledge gained in the dead twelve months left its mark, in any case, in a new series of reactions to given stimuli which take the general term of “experience.” These reactions are as automatic as those shewn by the child who has once been burnt or bitten towards fires or dogs, and form part of that protective instinct which helps life to continue. They are useful only as guides, for the individual has to give himself the new deal, which makes the start of a good new year something bracing and venturesome.

The New Year in the transport world of New Zealand will see the operation of the Transport Law Amendment Act. Upon this point a comment made in “The Engineer” of March last is particularly pertinent. “Whatever legislation Parliament may consider to level up the conditions under which competitive transport systems are operating,” it stated, “it is the first duty of railwaymen to keep their service as good as it can be…”

The New Zealand Government Railways rule book states the first duty of the railwayman is the safety of the public. Upon their attention to this factor, railwaymen can aspire to nothing better than their record for the past eight years, that of no fatalities caused to any of their passengers. And to comply fully to this “first duty” they have to aspire to that other ideal “to keep their service as good as it can be.” This is a fine thought to carry into action in the new year, for it is clear that however good the past achievement in this respect, it can always be bettered; and from service which aims at excellence comes that constant improvement which is the hope and measure of future achievement, both individual and national.

In this spirit we thank our readers for their kindly and increasing interest in the Magazine, and wish them all success in the New Year.