THE RAILWAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 142, 20 June 1927, Page 10

THE RAILWAYS

REGRADING SERVICE

MOTOR TRANSPORT

STATEMENT BY BOARD

.it the annual social of the BailT<s;r :officers' Institute on Saturday nig-htj addresses were delivered by the Hon. F. J. Bolleston (ActingMinister of Bailways) and Messrs. •Tames Mason and A. W. Mouat, members of the Bailways Board. Interesting references were made to motor competition as it affects *he railways, and also to the Bail - way-. Department—the largest

branch of the Public, Service.

Mr.. Mason said he appreciated very much the remarks which had been made by the president of the Institute ■with reference to the Eailways Board. The relations oi: the board and the executive of the Institute had always been pleasant. The executive in meeting the board had always presented its case concisely and logically, and had shown a spirit of "sweet reasonableness." From the point of view of the members of the Institute, the most important event of the year had been the question of the reclassification of the first division. It had been a task pf considerable magnitude—a most exacting task calling forth much energy and ability on tho part of those engaged in the work. In his opinion, very sound judgment had been exer T cised in arriving at the conclusion's) come to. Almost every railway station in the Dominion had been visited, aiad a vast amount of information had been gathered. The report had not yet be'en made public, but it was far better,~ to have the work thoroughly done eveii if that involved some delay.' x He coia.sidered the report an able one, and. he was, of opinion that it would lifford considerable satisfaction to the raalway service- generally—at least, to thfe portion of the service immediately concerned. They might not agree with all the recommendations in the repo:rt, but he might point out that the report had been prepared by three officers -isf wide knowledge of the Bailway Department as well as of the general Pu'oli; 1. Service. ■';.', , IMPROVED CONDITIONS. . So far as the Eailway Board of Management was concerned, it was sympatheticl with the Institute. and desired that all its members should have a fair deal. It was tho sincere wish of the management that" the 1 members of the service should be v c«.ntented and happy J-n their work. 'He reminded them that: the members /of the board had all. worked their Tvay up from cadetships. They had pretty- nearly leached: the allotted span of official life, and he thought they understood precisely how the ■ service felt in looking forward to the results of the reelassification; He trusted that when the results o. the regrttding were made public; that most of them—he would like to say ill—would be pleased. Of course, some ;might be disappointed— that was inevitable in a big-service. The, executive committee had had long interviews witb. the board. After the board had givea the recommehda-1 tiona further consideration, the report ■wouia be forward«3d to the Minister, and he wa3 sure tho Minister give tha.recommendations every consideration, because the Minister, like, the board, desired to see a happy and contented service. ....... „< r

The various remits adopted bjr the conference 01 the Institute were then alluded to briefly by Mr. Mason, who spoke of tho good work done on behalf of the Institute by the executive, and instanced several improvements in.l the matter of conditions which had been granted by tho Bailways Board as the result of representations made' to the board during the sitting of the last conference of the Institute. He expressed the- opinion that a very dis-' tinct advance had been made by the Department in introducing the merit system 'of discipline. INCREASED EFFICIENCY. During the yeav regulations had been gazetted providing for examinations in grades 7 and 8, and in order to give facilities for members to prepare for these "examinations, correspondence classes, under the control of the. Training School at Wellington have been established. There were approximately 1500 students belonging ,to the first division, and he felt sure they would benefit considerably by their studies, and would be better equipped to take up higher positions as opportunities for advancement occurred. ,

Beference had been made to the in-, creasing competition of motor traffic. It was very essential that every railWay officer should equip hiniself to meet the competition which tho railways were now faced with, for there had been no Stage in the history of the railways When they had had to meet such serious competition. Of course, that competition was not singular in the case of New Zealand. All railway concerns throughout the world were grappling With the problem. Every officer in the service should make up his mind to fio all he could to assist the management/for the Department required all the business it was possible to get. No service could flourish unless all its members devoted themselves wholeheartedly to its interests. p/3 was glad to say that a very fine spirit permeated the service—a spirit which made for advancement and for gaining and retaining the confidence of the public. He thought, however, that that spirit «ould be still further developed. When they considered that there were about 18,000 employees in the Railway Service, it would be realised that the interests of the employees were bound up. with the prosperity of the railways; and it behoyed every officer to realise that not only had the public a right to expect efficiency, but such efficiency and the prosperity of the railways was in the interests of each individual member of the service. If every member became imbued with the spirit of assisting to bring the machine to the highest state of efficiency, then their difficulties would be surmounted, and they could look for-, ward with confidence to the future. MOTOR COMPETITION. Mr. A. W. Mouat said that there was po doubt the increasing motor competition was serious, and, indeed, it raised a doubt as to whether all the members of tho railway service were going to finish their careers as railway officers. The question often came into i Jis mind: Has motor transportation come to take the place of the railways? If it had, then the railways within a Comparatively few years would range themselves alongside of the; old stage coach and tho bullock team. That was, if they accepted the view that motor transportation could render all the service that the railways could; but he did not think it could. He did not propose to go intc detail?, but he did not think that motor transportation had shown that it could handle rush traffic* in the way the railways j could. ■- It could not, he thought, handle the suburban and city traffic in centres like Auckland and Wellington without great disorganisation; nor could it. take 10,000- people to and from agricultural shows or race meetings. Even if iit could, it would not, he thought, be able to take the workers to and from their homes at a farthing (Z mile; nor could it distribute large Quantities of coal daily over large dis-

tances, as was dono in the North Isj land, at three-fartb ings a mile; Therefore, in his opiniwj, motor traffic had not reached the stage by a long way when it could replace the railways. It [was in the interests of all that the railways should 'De maintained in a position of being able to pay their way. | They should not. have to meet motor transportation o.n the present conditions, which ho' thought were unfair. The railways represented to the taxi payers of this. country about fifty milj lion pounds, and at the present time they were earning the two millions a year interest; If motor traffic were to be allowed to take the cream cf the _ traffic it wo» aid mean a serious thing "for the tax-payers.. He trusted it would not be long before the railways were put oil a more equitable footing so far as co mpetition with motor transportation ■w-as concerned. He did not quite know- how that would be reached, but perh&'ps it would be in regard to routes, rates charged, or the taxes the motor veliicles had to pay for the roads lon which they ran. The railways should b-e put on a. more equitable footing. Ho thought that in the future the railways would be found to be just as necfjssary for the country as they were to-day. • MINISTER'S EULOGY. Th<3 Hon. F. J. Eolleston, ActingMini/ster of Railways, said that during the /few months he had held that office, he had learned to appreciate the value of ; I,he railway service of New Zealand, anil he had come to know how much tho public of New Zealand were indebted to the officers of the service of all grades for the work they were doL'ng. Mr. Mason had referred fittingly to the fine spirit which actuated the service. From his experience as Minister, Mr. Eolleston said he 'could j affirm that,what Mr. Mason had said was absolutely true. At the present juncture the Government and Parliament had greater responsibilities than they had had for many years past, and! they confidently looked forward to' all branches of the Public Sieryice helping the Government and the' country through the temporary difficulties through which they were passing. His experience as Acting-Minister of Bailways gave him the assurance that that important branch of tne Public Service would do all it could to assist the executiye and legislative authorities, and in doing so they would also assist the country. He trusted that the deliberations of the conference o? the institute would be for the mutual benefit of all. .