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Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19389, 15 August 1928, Page 8

The past year has been a record one .for the suggestions and inventions branch of the New Zealand Railways, says the current the "Railways Magazine." The branch has had 1739 suggestions and inventions to deal with, some 500 more than has been received in any year since its inception in 1925. Of these suggestions 131 have been adopted, and in some cases a monetary reward was paid., In addition thero are about 150 suggestions still under consideration. Since the committee started work over 3000 suggestions have poured in* Many of these ideas are- highly technical, and are mainly supplied by "the railway staff, but the public have' submitted quite a number. While the majority of suggestions, none of which have covered fresh ground, havo concerned safety at level crossings, it is extraordinary what a vast scope has been.' covered by these suggestions—ranging from the berthing of whaling ships at -docks to the .wildly fantastic and somewhat irrelevant invention of how to obscure flashes from artillery guns by a complicated system of shutters. Quite the most novel idea submitted consists of organised entertainment for passengers- on long-distance runs. These would comprise music, sketches, and-humour. Another traveller con-, aiders that sleeping boards that would be placed from seat to seat would be ! an excellent innovation.