This is the fifth issue of our Magazine and judged by the many flattering remarks as to its literary and artistic merits, we may feel fairly well satisfied with it.

While, however, literary and artistic excellence are very desirable and necessary, there are other elements required in a publication such as ours in order that it shall fulfil its object completely.

Of these other elements one, and perhaps the most important, is that our Magazine should convey a direct—a human—interest to as many individual members of the staff as possible.

The one-big-family idea is worth encouraging. The spirit of friendliness helps greatly in the accomplishment of correlated work. There is a social as well as a business side to our relations with each other, and the cultivation of the human touch adds to the happiness and contentment of members when engaged in the performance of their multifarious duties. The Magazine furnishes an outlet for news of this nature.

On the first page of each issue there has appeared an invitation to send in contributions for publication, but although many members of the staff have responded to the invitation, as have also a number of the public the response has not been so widespread as could have been wished. The Board is, therefore, making this direct and personal appeal to all members of the service to display an active interest in the production of Our Magazine, one purpose of which is to enable us to disseminate our views, aims and aspirations, not only to the public, but to our fellow members in the service, and to develop the idea, and maintain it in our minds, that this is Our Magazine in which—within reasonable limits—we may express ourselves with freedom.

Movement of staff from one locality to another is unavoidable in such a service as ours, but invariably we maintain an interest in the doings of our old station and our friends there. We want to know whether the lectures or socials are still held; how the cricket or football club is getting on; and many other similar things, small in themselves, but in each case carrying a very direct and human interest to a number of our readers.

Nor do such items by any means exhaust the possibilities, for among our 17,000 members there must be many who feel the impulse to express themselves on some subject—not necessarily “shop”—which would be of sufficient interest to warrant its appearance in Our Magazine. There would be no difficulty in keeping the columns of the Magazine filled with technical and instructional articles, but the Board wishes it to grow in other directions also, and with this object in view very cordially asks the staff to assist in developing the “human interest” side by individually taking a direct and active part and by forwarding to the Editor contributions whether of personal, local or general interest.