Wisdom and Whizzdom.

The railway locomotive combines wisdom with whizzdom. It possesses the deep wisdom of experience; for ages it has followed the axe through the primitive back-reaches of the land; it has drawn the pioneers to the outposts of civilisation. It has sped undismayed through the untenanted silence of Nature's last strongholds; it has braved flood, fire, and landslide; it has transported the weapons of tillage with which Man has tamed the wild heart of Nature. It links the Future with the Present, and the Front Line with the Commercial Base. All this is true, dear reader, and lest we forget let us remember, lesser forms of transport followed only after the railway engine drew the means and the men for making the highways fit to speed on. Strength, purpose, power; these are the characteristics not only of the engine, but of the men who drive and conduct it; also of the men who hewed the track where the ancient rimu brooded in hoary solitude and the stratified cliffs towered aloof and unbelieving. Shouldering, boring, pressing on, despite the reluctance of resisting Nature, the railway drove into the heart of New Zealand; it took from Nature, but it has given more than it took. To the railway is the credit of the Golden Fleece, the Golden Calf, the Sacred Cow, the Lands of Milk and Money, and New Zealand's credit in the market places of the world.