The New Zealand Railways Magazine is on sale through the principal booksellers, or may be obtained post-free for 6/- per annum.

Employees of the Railway Department are invited to forward news items or articles bearing on railway affairs. The aim of contributors should be to supply interesting topical material tending generally towards the betterment of the service.

In all cases where the Administration makes announcements through the medium of this journal, the fact will be clearly indicated.

The Department does not identify itself with any opinions which may be expressed in other portions of the publication, whether appearing over the author's name or under a nom de plume.

Short stories, poetry, pen-and-ink sketches, etc., are invited from the general public upon New Zealand subjects.

Payment for short paragraphs will be made at 2d. a line. Successful contributors will be expected to send in clippings from the Magazine for assessment of the payment due to them.

The Editor cannot undertake the return of MS.

All communications should be addressed to The Editor, New Zealand Railways Magazine, Wellington.

I hereby certify that the publisher's lists and other records disclose that the circulation of the “New Zealand Railways Magazine” has not been less than 20,000 copies each issue since July, 1930.

Deputy-Controller and Auditor-General. 27/9/33

Cleaner Travelling.

For some months past the Railways have been trying out a new form of matting in several of the Main Trunk Express cars. These mats are a New Zealand product of a link design, and any dirt is caught in the interstices of the mat, making it almost impossible for it to be tramped or blown through the carriages.

The matting is soft and silent to walk upon, and in those cars where it has been tried it has been favourably commented upon by people walking through the carriages.

The Victorian Railways have used these mats for a number of years, with complete satisfaction, and it will be interesting to hear the further comments of New Zealand railwaymen and railway passengers on the greater cleanliness of travelling which it is considered this matting now makes possible.^*

First Ride In A Train.

A party of six children, pupils of a small isolated school in the King Country, obtained their first experience of railway travelling recently, when they journeyed to Auckland by train. With one exception, none of the children, whose ages range from ten to fifteen years, had previously ridden in a train, and none had ever seen the sea. They attend the Kohua Road School, about thirty miles from Te Kuiti. While in Auckland the children were billeted with friends of their teacher and were taken on a number of sight-seeing trips, including a visit to the R.M.S. Niagara.

Plantation Profits.

Anyone travelling through N.Z. at present and seeing the large number of pine plantations now being milled cannot fail to appreciate the potential value of the large pine forests established by N.Z. Perpetual Forests Ltd.

Sawmillers are finding that it costs less, and is much more profitable to mill plantations instead of natural forests, which are now mostly inaccessible.

The importation of foreign boxing timber has dropped considerably, and the milling of Insignis Plantations has been responsible for this.

Very satisfactory returns are being received for trees planted without any thought of profit.^*

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