If Carried By Men!

If man-power were used to transport the freight carried by the railroads of the United States (says a recent authority), 1,200,000,000 men, each carrying a 100lb. load 15 miles a day, would be required for the purpose.

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“Top-Dress for Top Values.”

Appreciating the importance of a widespread use of productive fertiliser, the Railway Department, through its Publicity Branch, will issue soon a helpful brochure entitled “Top-dress for Top Values.” Here are some passages:—

It is well known that the main basis of New Zealand's prosperity may be stated in one phrase—grass—land farming. In the aggregate of 18,830,000 acres under cultivation last year, pastures comprised 16,680,000 acres (nearly 90 per cent, of the total). Livestock provide, on the average, about 95 per cent, of the Dominion's exports.

Obviously any substantial increase of the national wealth must depend on an improvement of pastures. Nature, with her generous measure of soil-fertility, has been very kind to this country, but man has drawn heavily on nature's bank, which needs fresh deposits to replenish exhausted currency. Experience has proved for many farmers that top-dressing their land has top-dressed their bank accounts. The right fertiliser stimulates the money plant. A writer on superphosphate has declared that ‘super’ is the ‘supper of plant-life.’ Certainly ‘super’ makes two or more blades of grass flourish where only one had a struggle for existence before.

Reviews of the last dairying season have specially mentioned the importance of topressing in the surprisingly good returns from numerous farms. Some of the credit for those satisfactory results has been given to the Railway Department, which reduced the freight on fertiliser by 40 per cent., thus facilitating a large use of soil-stimulants.

Trimming the Red Tape.

“In entering New Zealand from Australia, I was amazed by the simple courtesy of His Majesty's servants in their efforts to help us comply with a few sensible legal requirements,” writes Mr. J. E. Hogg (New York), in “American Life.” “They've trimmed the red tape to almost nothing. The Customs officers were almost apologetic for asking me to open the lids of our trunks—and close them again. The immigration officers dismissed us with a few perfunctory questions, and a rubber stamp mark on our passports. The customary examination for mental fitness was waived upon presentation of evidence that I had recently complied with similar regulations in Australia.”

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Increasing Volume of Traffic.

Referring to the improvement in Railway Returns recorded during recent months, the New Zealand Herald remarks:—

It is certainly significant that, in spite of competition, headway is being made by the Railways and the volume of traffic is increasing. Part of the gain in earnings has been absorbed by additional expenditure, but, as the Minister of Railways recently explained, the cost of operation has been raised by efforts to meet competition. It would probably be too much to suggest that every additional pound of revenue will be profit, but evidently the augmented services could carry a considerably greater volume of traffic at small extra cost. In the period under review, the increase in expenses, compared with last year, has been less than 9/- for every additional pound of revenue. The general economic recovery has no doubt contributed to the improvement in railway finances; it is gratifying to the public, and encouraging to the Department, to know that the Railways have, in spite of severe competition, secured a substantial benefit from the enhanced prosperity of the country.