The old idea that work was the primal curse is being superseded in these modern days by a new conception, where work is regarded as a kind of game in which proficiency brings joys such as the sheerest idleness could never produce.

That the new notion has made much headway in the Railway Service of this Dominion there is ample evidence to demonstrate.

Since the first issue of this magazine—almost two years ago—a page has been set aside regularly in which the remarks of those who have desired to express appreciation of the service rendered them by various branches and on the respective sections have been published. Letters of this kind have now become so frequent that space is available for only a small proportion of them, but they may be regarded as one reliable measure of the progress made in bringing satisfaction to the public who travel by and in other ways make use of the State transportation services.

In another column we publish a tribute from an overseas traveller who, upon completion of a railway tour from Auckland to Dunedin, took the trouble to write to the Mail Agent representing the N.Z.R. on one of the trans-Pacific liners, testifying to the universal courtesy and assistance received from every railway official and employee.

With indications such as these for a guide it may safely be concluded that the general standard of personal service rendered to the public by the staff of our system stands at an exceptionally high level.

But service means more than merely the attitude adopted by the staff in their personal relations with the public, important though this is. It includes the provision of facilities that will increasingly add to the pleasure and safety of travel by rail and to the protection and promptness of transit accorded to commodities entrusted to the Railway's care. On this phase of service much progress has also been recorded. When a world traveller sends for the guard of the “Limited,” as happened the other day, for the sole purpose of informing him that the sleeping car provided was the most comfortable, and the most replete with aids to travel pleasure of any he had found in all countries visited, it helps to give the men of the service pride in the trains they are handling, besides showing that the spirit of service is alive throughout the whole organisation—the spirit that causes cars to be designed and built to ensure travel comfort and that prompts drivers to manage their trains with the utmost smoothness.

The fact is that for express services—that is, for train services where the volume of traffic warrants the prosecution of a progressive policy—the attention given to the reouirements of passengers, both in the way of equipment and personal service, is in advance of what the average traveller expects. And this is exactly as it should be.

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When the average passenger finds it hard to think of anything practical that could be done to improve the service it is a sure indication that the “spirit of service” within the Service is right. When we can surprise the public by the care we take of them and the provision we make for them, we are functioning in the right way to increase business.

Given that the “on rail” service is proceeding along right lines, the feature to which attention must now be devoted is the “to and from station” phase of transport; and the indications, both in New Zealand and in other countries, are that this will never be quite satisfactory until the railways provide the connecting services, both for passengers and freight, at each end of the rail journey.