THE RAILWAYS SERVICE

Otago Witness, Issue 4057, 15 December 1931, Page 24

THE RAILWAYS SERVICE

APPLICATION OF NEW METHODS BUSINESS PRINCIPLES ESSENTIAL CO-ORDINATION OF TRANSPORT. WELLINGTON, December 13. The opinion that the railways of the Dominion would have to operate more along business lines and that the transport system as a whole would have to be stabilised and rationalised was expressed by Mr H. H. Sterling, late General Manager of Railways, who was recently ap pointed chairman of the Railways Board, in a speech which he made on Saturday night at a farewell tendered to him by members of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Railway Officers’ Institute. Replying to the toast of “ Valedictory,” Mr Sterling said the railways had a great tradition, but it was difficult now for them to live up to it. Everybody wanted something from the railways, and many people wanted something to be carried for nothing. His reply was that it simply could not be done. If someone got a service for which he did not pay, then someone else had to pay for it, and that elementary truth was apt to be forgotten to-day. There were immense difficulties before the railway industry that in former days were unknown, proceeded Mr Sterling. He appealed to all railwaymen to help. “ I appeal to all railwaymen to help us through the position that is facing us,” he said. Proceeding, Mr Sterling said he did not think for a moment that the Railways Board wanted to be arbitrary to the men who constituted the railway service. There were certain business practices in universal application that were

not applied in the railway service. That: was largely because the service had not: been of a type that could be judged by business standards, although the publitj: generally had been inclined to overlook; the fact. It might be in the future that: the service would be run more in conformity with business principles, but thero were cross-currents at present that had! to be recognised which prevented it for the time being. The board was entirely sympathetic towards the staff and it hadl come into the business in something off the same way as a board of directors would come in. The board, he had been a little misunderstood, largely owing to an unfortunate development for which no one was to blame.

“ I know of my own personal knowledge, however, that there is nothing further from the minds of the members of the Railways Board than the idea off being arbitrary to the staff,” Mr Sterling said. “ I know the board will give the staff every consideration, and so far as I am concerned I will hold the scales as justly as my ability and capacity will permit.”

The railways were still facing very great difficulties, Mr Sterling went on. Perhaps the greatest was the system under which they operated. There was a tendency to judge the railways according to business standards, but the fact was that the railways had not been allowed to work to business standards. That difficulty now was partly overcome, at least, in the conferring of the Minister's powers on tho board, and the railways would now have to operate more on business lines. The questions that required consideration to-day were far different from those which had arisen in the past, and possibly the biggest question of all was whether the organisation to-day was adequate. It was wonderful to him, Mr Sterling said, that the organisation had adapted itself so rapidly to the present kaleidoscopic conditions. He had tried to bring it home to the people of New Zealand that transport was one of the greatest industries the country had, and it could not afford to postpone bringing that industry to a proper degree of stabilisation and rationalisation. Present conditions were unsatisfactory and uneconomic, and they could not possibly be permanent. The sooner the necessary changes were made the better it would be for the country.

Undoubtedly the first change would have to be an internal one to bring stabilisation to the industry and everyone in it, but from the wider aspect, considering the transport industry as a whole, it was apparent that many conflicting forces were involved, and he thought some judicial machinery would have to be set up to deal with them in something the same way as legal disputes were dealt with and settled. That something was provided in the Transport Act passed during the last session of Parliament, and while he did not think that Act was by any means perfect, at least it set up the machinery to enable a start to be made in the rationalisation of the transport industry. It was not bolstering up the railways; it placed definite responsibilities on the railways to provide a service that would be second to none, no matter what interests were opposed to it. That was what the railways had to measure up to, and Mr Sterling said he was sure they would measure up to it. Speaking of the economies effected in the railways, Mr Sterling said that last year the expenditure had been decreased by nearly £500,000, and this year ho thought it would be decreased by a little over £1,000,000. Those were very creditable figures, but he was sure they could not have been attained had it not been for the whole-hearted co-operation of everyone in the railway service. Now that the railwaymen were on their toes, added Mr Sterling, their jobs would bo done with credit to themselves and with advantage to the Dominion.

STAFF APPOINTMENTS PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS. WELLINGTON, December 12. The general manager of railways, Mr P. G. Roussell, announces that the Government Railways Board has made the following service appointments: — Mr J. C. Schneider, acting district traffic manager at Wellington, to bo traffic superintendent, the title of traffic superintendent replacing that of general superintendent of transportation. Mr A. Urquhart, staff assistant in the head office, to be staff superintendent in the head office. Mr F. W. Aickin, assistant law officer in the head office, to be law officer. Mr G. T. Wilson, acting district traffic manager at Wanganui, to be district traffic manager at Auckland. Mr W. Schierning, acting goods agent at Wellington, to be district traffic manager at Wellington.

Mr E. S. Brittenden, acting district traffic manager at Christchurch, to be district traffic manager at Christchurch. Mr H. L. Gibson, acting district traffic manager at Dunedin, to be district traffic manager at Dunedin. Mr H. C. Couch, acting district traffic manager at Auckland, to be district traffic manager at Wanganui. Mr W. P. Miller, acting bus manager at Wellington, to be district traffic manager at Ohakune. Mr J. A. Lindsay, acting district traffic manager at Invercargill, to be district traffic manager at Invercargill.