INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22468, 11 July 1936, Page 15

INDUSTRIAL RECOVERY

ACTIVITY IN BRITAIN AMERICAN RAILWAY COMPANIES "A very gratifying aspect of the industrial position overseas is the extreme activity in most heavy industries in Great Britain," said Mr. Thorold Fink, n director of the Herald and Weekly Times, Limited, Melbourne, who passed through Auckland by the Monterey yesterday after spending nearly a year abroad. The cotton trade was still slack, he said, but oven before the new defence contracts were placed engineering was booming and it was extraordinary to find old-established concerns having difficulty in holding their employees. The heavier industries in the United States were not recovering so rapidly, but they were making steady progress, Mr. Fink said. The most interesting development in this connection was the regeneration of the railways. Twelve months ago they were regarded as "chronically sick" on account of the established place won by road services and the increasing proportion of firstclass high-speed traffic being taken by air. Bv a complete reorganisation of methods to meet modern competitive conditions, however, traffic had been increased and the lines showed signs of an ultimate return to prosperity. Speed schedules had been increased—one train maintained an average speed, including stops, of 60 miles an hour on a 2000-mile run —service had been improved, air conditioning had become almost general, excellent food was being provided at more reasonable prices and streamlining was being introduced.