The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 3 (July 2, 1928)
“Securing Confidence of the Public” — Keynote of Present Railway Administration
“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.
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.
“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.”