SELF HELP

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 April 1932, Page 3

SELF HELP

RAILWAYMEN’S PROPAGANDA.

A staff of fifteen- thousand- railwaymen “stating convincingly is railways case!” Fifteen thousand criers of the slogan: “Fourpence a mile by motor car, a penny per mile by rail!” This is the propagandist perfection to which the General Manager (Mr P. G. Roussell) points the way in his message to railwaymen and to the railway owning public in the April issue of the “New Zealand JRailways Magazine.” When railwaymen tell everybody the plain truth about “the cheapness and safety of railway transport, the employees are telling the shareholders in the railway undertaking facts of mutual benefit. The railwaymen, adds the General Manager, “are necessarily acting for the welfare . o themselves and the whole Dominion. ;More business for the railways means more security for positions in various branches of the service. Efforts of the staff to increase this . business may be regarded as an insurance policy against decrease of employment. “The Department has, of course, business agents whose special duty it is to sell railway transport (passenger and freight), but the number of these agents is limited. Stationmasters and their staffs too, are exceptionally well situated to assist in this service. No matter how strenuously these may work, however, there will be still immeasurable scope for other members of the service to say a word for the railways on suitable occasions during their leisure hours. “When one thinks of a staff oi 15,000 men, distributed through the whole community, one cannot help feeling that a strong persistent drive for the railways must have good results. Therefore, I appeal confidently to all members to be always in readiness to state the railways case convincingly. We supply the. safest and cheapest transport, and it deserves the best support of the owners, the general public. “Linked with this need of more revenue for the railways is the saving which can be made in the careful use of stores and equipment. I am pleased that the recent reminder on this important matter has been appreciably effective, and I anticipate that the staff will continue to be on guard against all kinds ei waste. Here again, it is a case of strengthening the financial position of the railways .so that the outlook may be improved [for employees. It is really a case of [ self-help.”