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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 6 (September 1939)

Railway Progress in New Zealand — General Manager's Message — Goodwill and Teamwork

page 8

Railway Progress in New Zealand
General Manager's Message
Goodwill and Teamwork

Nineteen hundred and forty is going to be a big year for the Railways. On top of heavy ordinary business we shall be required to handle the extraordinary traffic of the national Centennial celebrations. Even so, I hope all railway employees may have an opportunity, sometime in the course of the year, of joining in those celebrations. Because when we take stock of the past, and of the stage in development to which our country has come at the end of her first hundred years, we see constantly recurring evidence of the important part played by the State railway system. It is a fine thing to have shared in building a great national undertaking that in its turn has helped build the nation. That has been the privilege of New Zealand railwaymen; so that to them the Centennial is doubly a cause for pride.

And just as the nation has been built from the character of its citizens through the century, so the Railways to-day are the product of the splendid service given them by successive generations of employees. Co-operation—pulling together—striving for a common goal-teamwork: call it what you will, that is the spirit behind our success. The Railways are not, and never can be, a one-man or a one-group show. There are twenty-five thousand of us helping to make them go; and the effort of every one of the twenty-five thousand counts. I think most people recognise that. Certainly the team spirit in railway ranks has never been more clearly apparent than now. Our relations with the public have never been better. And I sincerely believe we have entered upon a new era of goodwill between management and staff. Recent difficulties and differences—arising largely from misunderstandings—have been removed; and there is no section of New Zealand industry in finer heart for the Centennial than the Railways and the men (and women) who operate them.

Our duty to the Dominion, as she stands on the threshold of her second century, is to maintain this position, and if possible to improve it. We in the Railways each owe much to the men who were seniors when we were juniors. They taught us our jobs. They handed on to us the traditions of the Service, and set us on our feet. Now it is our turn to help. Wages and conditions of work are much more attractive than they were a generation ago. I sometimes wonder whether the zeal of our younger men has increased in proportion. In the case of many it has. We are recruiting to the Railways a fine type of young fellow, and on the whole we are being splendidly served. But now and again there come to my notice instances of slackness and carelessness that hurt. They hurt because they are a blot upon the reputation of the Service as a whole: because they bring discredit upon us all. Then I ask myself whether we older men are doing everything we can to help our juniors.

Outside interests are more numerous and more diverse to-day than they were when we joined, and it may be harder to settle down in one's job. On the other hand, the railway job is more important, more responsible, than ever before. Slackness, always a fault, is in these days a greater fault than ever. I should like to think we were free from it. I should like to know that every single one of our twenty-five thousand was pulling his full weight all the time. Could this be our co-operative contribution, as railwaymen, to the national Centennial?—a resolve not to stop with our own job well done, but to be increasingly jealous of the good name and efficiency of the Service: to help new men to a right start: to play always for the team, and to play so that the team may merit high esteem from the country.

General Manager.

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Flourishing New Zealand Industries (Rly. Publicity photos.) Top (left to right): (1) A section of the factory of H. C. Uriwin Ltd., Christchurch. (2) Loud-speaker parts at Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington. (3) Aluminium spinning machine, Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington. (4) Progress testing, Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington. (5) An air-conditioned house in Wellington (note, no chimneys). (6) How the air-conditioned plant is installed in the basement of the house. (7) A portion of the Wellington factory of Air-Conditioning Engineers Ltd. (8) Glass etching of dials at Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington.

Flourishing New Zealand Industries
(Rly. Publicity photos.)
Top (left to right): (1) A section of the factory of H. C. Uriwin Ltd., Christchurch. (2) Loud-speaker parts at Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington. (3) Aluminium spinning machine, Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington. (4) Progress testing, Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington. (5) An air-conditioned house in Wellington (note, no chimneys). (6) How the air-conditioned plant is installed in the basement of the house. (7) A portion of the Wellington factory of Air-Conditioning Engineers Ltd. (8) Glass etching of dials at Radio Corporation Ltd., Wellington.