STILL EXPERIMENTAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 227, 25 September 1930, Page 11

STILL EXPERIMENTAL.

GARRATT LOCOMOTIVES. DEPARTMENT "WAITING A WHILE." (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. An important indication of the Government policy regarding Diesel and Garratt engines, was given by the Minister of Railways, the Hon. W. A. Veiteh, in the House to-night. The Minister said the Garratt engine was still being .experimented with, and as the result of some very careful work on the part of the engineering staff of the Railway Department, some improvements had been effected. Mr. E. J. Howard (Lab., Christcliurch South): How long is it since the Garratt came to New Zealand? "A long while ago now," replied, the Minister. Hβ added that he did not care to take the responsibility of scrapping the Garratt engines, in view of the money expended, and he felt that an earnest effort must be made to make a success of them. That was being done now. In fairness to the makers of the locomotive it should be stated that the Garratt feature was not the cause of the difficulties concerning Diesel engines. An officer who had been sent abroad to make inquiries had reported that the Diesel engine was not yet past the experimental stage. His advic«, and this the Minister had accepted, was that New Zealand should wait a while and watch the development of extensive experiments now being carried out in other parts of the world. No advantage would accrue to the Dominion by those experiments here. It was there- \ fore the intention of the Department to await the results of experiments being' carried out abroad.