RAILWAY SERVICE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19138, 6 October 1936, Page 4

RAILWAY SERVICE

BRIGHT FUTURE MANAGER’S VIEWS A review of the past and future of the railways in New Zealand was made hy the general manager, Mr. G. 11. Mackley, at the annual reunion of the Auckland branch of the Railway Officers’ Institute. “I.believe that with those who say the railways are things of the past, the wish is father to the thought,” Mr. Mackley said. “I believe they will continue to be the main artery of transport in every country of the world for years and years to come and, indeed, that they will never be superseded. New Zealand owes more to its railways than anything else and certainly no country has made better use of them in its development. They are still the foundation of our national life and their value cannot be assessed from the monetary return alone.”

The future was never brighter for railways in the Dominion, he said. The Government appreciated the social aspect of the railways and they had its backing in giving the maximum service to the people. He referred to the increases that bad occurred since 1911 in miles of line open, capital cost, working expenses, gross earnings, locomotives, passenger cars, wagons and brake vans, staff and miles run, The passengers carried annually had fallen off by nearly 4,000,000, however, and goods tonnage had shown only n small increase. It was their job to "remedy this position and it would ho done.

f rhe service was improving every day and was bet lor than it had ever been, so that in some respects New Zealand was to-day definitely leading the railway world. He mentioned new branches of the department that had been inaugurated, improvements effected, and new services.

Every one of the road sendees that had been taken over had been acquired on excellent terms and would make money. As a result of co-ordination, J 33000 was being saved annually o.n one branch. The impression that the Government was out to be the Mussolini of the transport world was a mistaken one.