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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3 (July 2, 1928)

“Securing Confidence of the Public” — Keynote of Present Railway Administration

page 32

“Securing Confidence of the Public”
Keynote of Present Railway Administration

“After the temporary intoxication over the new and luxurious method of transport has passed away, people will admit that the kernel of the whole Dominion transport system is the railway.”

Mr. H. H. Sterling the Commercial Traveller's and Warehousemen's Association dinner.

In a keynote address delivered at Auckland on 9th June, Mr. H. H. Sterling, General Manager of Railways, said he had endeavoured to compile a comprehensive statement concerning his future policy in the administration of the railways, but all he could think to write about was the necessity of securing the confidence of the public. This was the keynote of the Prime Minister, in the present administration of the railways, and it would certainly be the very foundation of his own.

“I feel that, assisted by you as one section of the community, and by the primary producers as the other, much may be done toward the successful administration of the railways,” Mr. Sterling said, “Alone I can do nothing. My
The Railway Department is now operating about sixty 'buses (mostly in suburban areas) throughout the Dominion. Above is a portion of the fleet (formerly known as Sharp's Safety Service) recently acquired for the Wellington-Hutt Road Motor Service.

The Railway Department is now operating about sixty 'buses (mostly in suburban areas) throughout the Dominion. Above is a portion of the fleet (formerly known as Sharp's Safety Service) recently acquired for the Wellington-Hutt Road Motor Service.

appeal to the railwaymen is in the same spirit. My idea is not to wrap myself up in cotton wool and lock myself up in a glass case office at Wellington. I hope to come out and meet my public and my men, and I hope if any of you feel there is anything wrong about the railways you will come and have it out as man to man. If I can put anything right, it will be my pleasure and my privilege to do so. If I cannot, you will be told the reason why. That is as I view the policy of my chief, Mr. Coates, and that is how I feel. I will have to work it out. It is along these lines that I believe we will be able to accomplish something. We have been passing through a state of unrest as far as transport is concerned. We have heard a lot of page 33 tattle, but we are settling down, and I believe yet we will realise that railways are the backbone of the country's transport.”

“I propose to add to your number by about 15,000, and it will be my endeavour to instil a spirit of business-getting into the railwaymen of this country,” said Mr. Sterling.

“I believe the railwaymen have such a spirit, and I hope to foster it, and so build up a great business-getting institution that will place the railways where the Government and people of the country would wish them to be.”

Mr. Sterling said he was fully sensible of the privilege which had fallen to him in addressing Auckland business men upon his first public appearance as General Manager of the Railways. A great compliment had been paid to him by the Government, and he had accepted the position with a humble spirit, and with desire to do the best he could for the service in which he had already spent many years. “I do not know whether I am adequate to the task,” Mr. Sterling said. “If I am not, I can assure you it will not be for want of trying on my part. There has in the past been much adverse criticism of the Railway Department, and this has proved wholly injurious. However, I believe the people of this country will yet realise the service for which the railways have been responsible in the development of New Zealand. I believe the potentialities of the service are, as yet, unexhausted.”