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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 8 (December 1, 1928)

An Official Summing Up

An Official Summing Up.

At the final social gathering at Whangarei on the Saturday evening, tributes to the ability of the officers of the Railway Department were paid with great enthusiasm by both hosts and guests.

Speaking at the dinner given by the Whangarei Chamber of Commerce Mr. H. H. Sterling said page 40 that 1,300 miles had been covered by the train, 450 by motor, and 20 by launch. The cost to the people who had travelled in the train had been 1 ½d. a mile. That was an object-lesson to the people who thought that the railways were obsolete, and were being superseded by any other form of transport, The trip had been an example of how the various methods of transport could be co-ordinated, and the comfort and the possibility of the trip had been due only to that co-ordination. As general manager of the railways, and as a New Zealander, he was trying to solve a problem which affected all New Zealand. The railway servants were all imbued with the spirit of service. A lot had been said about bringing the railways to a state of commercial prosperity, but it must not be forgotten that they were a service to the Dominion before they were profit-earning. The North had great possibilities which must be unlocked, and the key to the door was transport. He asked those present to set aside all prejudice and catch-cries regarding the railways. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce had given a demonstration of the service which could be done by the railways, and if the people of the Dominion gave their support they would get a service second to none in the world.