"CHANGING OVER"

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 130, 4 June 1931, Page 10

"CHANGING OVER"

WITH UNCHANGING FAITH "A PLACE FOR RAILWAYS" On the gvc of the new administrative changes, the General Manager of Bailways writes the following message in tlio "Now Zealand Railways Magazine to the staff and shareholders of tho national railways: On the occasion of far-reaching changes in tho policy of administration applied to the railways of this country. I wish to give expression to one or two thoughts which, as General Manager of the system, have been passing through my mind. Tho first is in regard to the usefulness of the railways to tho peoplp of this Dominion. I liavo a belief and' faith in regard to this that has never wavered. Whatever developments there may be by road or air or sea in the future, I.believe that for a long time to come the railways will be an essential factor i.v mooting the transport needs of the Dominion, and so long as the. railways continue to give that essential service at tho lowest possible cost they will be "^paying" in tho only sense in which that word can be rationally applied to the work of the railway staff. This thought has stayed with mo throughout tho orgy of transport which has afflicted the country with such intensity in recent years, and I feel that it is being increasingly recognised throughout the community. Many factors have contributed to this recognition, chief among which I believe are the growth of a more judicial attitude among the thinkers in tho community towards tho transport industry and the place of the railways therein and the steady levelling down of costs which has operated in the Department during the past year. During tho present year 1 think we may look with confidence to further beneficial .results under both these headings. ' Tho second is in regard to the effectiveness of the railways on the personnel side. Upon this point I have been especially pleased to find the extent of public appreciation in regard to the willingness of our staff to afford helpful assistance to tho public in their business with the Department. From one end of the Dominion to the other, business people engaged in an extremely varied range and scale of producing, manufacturing, and trading occupations and enterprises, have gone out of their way. to keep me personally informed of incidents in connection with their own businesses which' have shown the attitude of employees of the Department towards the Department's clients in a very favourable light. This has been encouraging as showing, 'first; tho appreciation, of member's of the staff of tho public viewpoint, for no matter how well-informed the customers of the Department may be upon the general features of our services with which they come into direct touch, there is always some further knowledge which members specially engaged in tho various types of railway work possess, and it is in transmitting this knowlodge that so much real aid can be given to those who entrust their transport needs to our care. Thon a second advantage from such service is revealed in the sidelight thereby thrown on the attitude of members towards their employment, for nothing indicates more clearly a healthy attitude towards their, job than when tho members of an organisation govern their actions in regard to. those with whom they come in contact as they would do were, the business their own. As I write this message the change in the control of the Bailways, as embodied in tho Government Railways Amendment Act, 1931, comes into operation. An essential feature of that change >is the constitution of the Government Bailways Board to control the working of the railways, and to shapetheir policy. I feel that the traditional loyalty of tho railway staff to the constitution will be maintained through the present change, and. that I may speak with confidence) for every member of the staff in giving to the board and the public the full assurance that every member of the staff will co-oper-ate with tho board and with one another with the: single purpose of obtaining tho very best results in the working of tho system.