CONTROL OF RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19892, 10 March 1928, Page 10

CONTROL OF RAILWAYS.

. ...... THE BOARD'S PERSONNEL. RESIGNATION OF CHAIRMAN. • • MR. F. J. JONES' DECISION. ACCEPTANCE BY GOVERNMENT. ( 1 iijjj [BI TELEGRAPB.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] * WELLINGTON. Friday. . Mr. F. J. Jones has asked to be retired from the position of chairman of the Railway Board of Management from tJife end of the current financial year, March 31. It is understood that, the retirement has been accepted and will tako effect from the dato mentioned. Whether or not this development will mean a complete change of the personnel of the. board is not yet known. The other members are Mr. J. Mason and Mr. A. W. Mouat, neither of whom, as far as can be ascertained, has followed the line of action adopted by Mr. Jones. A straightout resignation by a railway \ officer with under 40 years' service would have an adverse effect on his super-: annuation benefits, but officers with ov6r 35 years' service are allowed to apply to be retired- ' The record of service of Mr. Jones extends over a period of 39 years. The retirement of Mr. Jones should, not be construed to foreshadow reorgariisation or the abandonment of the present method of control of the railway service. Any doubts on that score will be removed by reference to the very definite statements of the Prime Minister and Minister of Railways, Mr. Coates, in last year's railways statement. While abroad Mr. Coates examined the systems he passed over in the Uaited States, Canada and Great Britain, in all of which countries the effect of competition in. some form or other was exercising the minds of the management. "The general organisation of these large systems," said the Prime Minister, "provides one with guidance regarding the best method to adopt in a young and rapidly-developing country liko New Zealand, and the gained from personal inquiry in Canada and the United States leave no doubt in my mind that the system of executive management and divisional control contemplated as the outcome of the recommendations of the Fay-Raven commission will be just as successful in New Zealand as in those countries that have been able definitely to prove its value."

From cadet at a salary of £3O a year to one of the highest administrative positions in the Public Service of the Dominion is the record of Mr. F. J- Jones, M.V.O. Born in 1874, Mr. Joues joined the railway service at Dunedin at the age of 15 and for the ensuing five years was located successively at Oamaru, .Wellington and Auckland. He became a draughtsman in Auckland in 1894; He was appointed assistant engineer at Dunedin in 1899 and was later transferred Wellington. In 1901 Mr. Jones was promoted district engineer a£ Greymouth and later filled similar positions at Wellington, Wanganui, Auckland and Dunedin. He became supervising engineer at Wellington in 1920, assistant chief en* fineer in 1922 and chief engineer in 1924. fr„ Jones became chairman of the Railway Board in December, 1924. '