THE RAILWAYS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20419, 14 December 1931, Page 10

THE RAILWAYS.

need for business | PRINCIPLES. MR STERLING SURVEYS THE TRANSPORT POSITION. [THfc PRESS Special Serviqa.] i "WELLINGTON, December 13. The opinion that Now Zealand's railways would have to operate more along business lines, and that the transport system as a whole would have to be stabilised and rationalised, was expressed by Mr H. H. Sterling, late General Manager of Railways, and recently appointed Chairman of the Kailways Board, in a speech which he made on Saturday night at a farewell tendered him by members of tho Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Railway Officers' Institute. Mr Sterling said the railways had a great tradition; but it was difficult now to live up to it. Everyone wanted something from tho railways. Many people wanted something to be carried for nothing. His reply "was that it simply could not be done. If someone got service for which he did not pay, then someone else had to pay for it, and that elementary truth was apt to be forgotten to-day. There were immense difficulties before tho railway industry to-day that in former days were unknown. Appeal to Railwaymen. "I appeal to all railwaymcn to help us through the position that is facing us," Mr Sterling said, replying to remarks made earlier in the evening by the president of the New Zealand Railway Officers' Institute, Mr Y. J. R. Stanley. Mr Sterling said he did not think for a momont that the Railways Board wanted to be arbitrary to the men who constituted the railway service. There were certain business practices in universal application that were not applied in the railway service. That was largely because tho service had not been of the type that could be judged by businoss standards, although tho public generally had been inclined to overlook the fact. > It might be in tho future that the service would be run more in conformity with business principles; but there were cross-currents Jit present that had to be recognised, which prevented it for the time being. The Board was entirely sympathetic towards the staff, continued Mr Sterling, and it had come into business in something of the same way as _ a Board of Directors would come in. The Board, ho thought, had been a little misunderstood, largely due to an unfortunate development for which no ono was to blame. "But I know of my own personal knowledge that there is nothing further from tho minds of the Railways Board than the idea of being arbitrary to the Staff," Mr Sterling said. "I know it will give tho staff every consideration, and as far as I ani concerned I will hold the scales as justly as my ability and capacity will permit." Qreat Difficulties Paced. The railways were still, facing very great difficulties, Mr Sterling went on. Perhaps the greatest was the system under which they operated. There was. a tendency to judge the railways according to business standards, but the fact was that the railways had not been allowed to work to business staijjlards. That difficulty now was partly overcome, at least, in the conferring of the Minister's power 3on tho Board. The railways would have to operate more on business lines. Questions that required consideration to-day were far different from those which had arisen' in the past, and possibly the biggest: question of all was whether tho organisation to-day was adequate. It was wonderful, Mr Sterling said, that' the organisation had adapted itself so rapidly to the present kaleidoscopic conditions. He had tried to bring it home to the people of New Zealand that transport was one of the biggest industries the country had, and it could not afford to postpone briuging that industry to a proper degree of stabilisation and rationalisation. The present conditions were unsatisfactory and uneconomic. They could not possibly be permanent. Tho sooner the necessary changes' were made the better is would be for tho country. Conflicting Forces. Undoubtedly the first change would have to be an internal one, to bring stabilisation to tho industry and everyoue in it; but from the wider aspect of considering the transport industry as a whole it was apparent that many conflicting forces were involved, and he thought some judicial machinery would have to be set up to deal with them, iu something the same way as legal disputes were dealt with and settled. That something was provided in the Transport Act passed during the last session of Parliament, and while lie did not think that the Act was by any means perfect, at least it set' up the machinery to enable a start to be made iu tho rationalisation of the transport industry. It was not bolstering up the railways. It placed definite responsibilities on the railways to provide a service that would bo second to none no matter what interests were opposed to it. That was what railways had* to measure up to, and, Mr Sterling said, he was sure they would measure up to it. Economies Effected. Speaking of the economies effected in the railways, Mr Sterling said that last vear the expenditure had boon decreased by nearly £500,000, and this year be thought it would decrease by a little over £1,000,000. Those were very creditable figures; fcut ho was sure they could not have been attained had it not been for the" whole-hearted co-operation of everyone in the railway service. Now, he said, the railwaymen were on their toes, and their jobs would be done with credit to themselves and with advantage to the Dominion.