OUT FOE BUSINESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18862, 10 November 1924, Page 6

OUT FOE BUSINESS.

THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT.

AN AGGRESSIVE POLICY.

CO-OPERATION BY OFFICIALS.

SUCCESSFUL CANVASSING,

"We are out after business," said the Hon. J. G. Coates, at Tauranga, on Saturday evening, when referring to railway matters. "We ar e separating the lailway accounts from the Treasury. By next March I hope we will be ready with the double entry system and then railway finance will be'understood by everybody. It will be a separate business. It will be run on its own separate basis. I do not wish to make any reflection upon previous Ministers. Everyone, Liberal and Roform, has left his mark and to-day we are reaping the benefit, but we cannot stop. We must treat the railways as a business concern. We will have to get our finance right and in that connection it will be necessary to have a valuation made of all the railways. It" will be a long job but it will have to be done."

And it was their aim to make every railway officer a willing co-operator, continued the Minister. It was his desire to see every man regarding the service as his service, to feel he was part and parcel of the "show," not merely to do his duty but to entice people to use his own concern. Whether porter or general manager, or Minister, every man ought to be out for business. They wanted to show what the railways do give. "We want to enthuse new life into New Zealand railways and we want to go further," continued Mr. Coates. "If the policy laid down this year is not given effect to it will not be for lack of hard work by manager and Minister. When we get every man interested in his concern I think the public will be with us. How far have we got? In the first 12 months we did not get far. I said to Mr. McVilly: 'We have this satisfaction. We can j say definitely we have done nothing.' We have done something since then, however. As indicating our pursuit of business, I might mention that where formerly we had a freight of 300 bales of wool otrr commercial agents have been able to collect between 8000 and 9000 bales. It all went by road before. In a district with six dairy factories, which formerly gave us no freight, we now get the lot.

"We want your business," declared the Minister cheerily to the gathering which represented the whole Bay of Plenty district and other parts of. the province. "We want the business of Sir Wm. Armstrong, Whitworth and C 0.," he added with a smile to Colonel Greenhough, the representative of the firm. "We want to reduce freights and fares generally, but we can only do it when you give us your business. I propose to reduce haulage costs in certain cases. We are going to try motor engines and have motor lorries on the lines.

"We are going to carry the war into your own camp," said Mr. Coates, in conclusion. "That can be done only by energy and incessant work. Our departmental heads will be only too pleased if you will approach them and talk over railway matters with them. They are keen to get the psychology of the public and to meet you. I believe that in this way we will break down a prejudice against the railways. There is a prejudice. In some parts of New Zealand it is only necessary to say you belong to the railways to be 'down and out.' We want to stop that."

The Minister spoke in a similar strain at the ceremony of cutting the sod at Te Puna during the afternoon. "We want your patronage," he said. "We are after you now and may be asking you for agreements that will tie you down for all your trade for some years. Formerly it was the custom to sit in Wellington and take what you gave us. We do so no longer. We don't want to squeeze out motor oompetition but we will if we can."