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I hereby certify that the publisher's lists and other records disclose that the circulation of the “New Zealand Railways Magazine” has not been less than 20,000 copies each issue since July, 1930.
Deputy-Controller and Auditor-General.
Preparing for an All-Night Run
(W. W. Stewart photo.) (Courtesy, “Ladies Mirror.”)
A photographic study in the Locomotive Sheds at Auckland, New Zealand.
In an article entitled “Our Up-to-date Railways,” the Sunday Times (London), of the 17th July, refers to the decision of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company to appoint a Chief Commercial Manager, whose function it will be to “sell transport to the public just as commercial houses sell their wares.” This, the Sunday Times declares to be “a new and interesting example” of the fact that the railway companies are meeting the challenge of hard times and the competition of road transport by intensified enterprise “to give the public the most efficient service humanly possible.”
In this respect the New Zealand Railways appear to be about eight years ahead of the L.M.S., for a Commercial Manager was appointed in 1924, the Department's objectives being very similar to those now announced by the L.M.S., namely, to bring the railways and the public, both as traders and passengers, closer together, and to develop more cooperation between the officers and staff of the railway.
Some of the directions in which the L.M.S. hopes to improve upon present conditions have been indicated. These include the improvement of communications between districts and headquarters by a development of the direct telephone system, the removal of some of the limitations which tend to irritate the travelling and business public, and the improvement of facilities for holiday tourists. Among other of the Company's ambitions is to see stations made brighter and more attractive.
The aim of the Administration and management of the railways in this country for many years past has been along similar lines, and already many of the things the L.M.S. hopes to do are in operation. Fortunately the stage can never be reached in the transport field where it is possible to lie back with a smile of satisfaction and say “this is the end of progress—the last word has been said, and the ideal has been attained.” Transport ideals change their value and scope as they are approached, and the ideals of last year do not satisfy the aims of this. Hence the progress of the L.M.S. development along commercial lines will be watched with the keenest interest.
In a comment on this new appointment to the L.M.S. the Advertisers' Weekly remarks: “Does he know how to tell the public what it does want, and that he has got it? The company's new advertisements suggest that somebody does.”
There is a fine spirit of co-operation between the railways of all countries at the present time, and what one finds helpful is passed on for the information of the others.
Kipling, in introducing one of his volumes of verse, remarked that:—
In the same spirit the railways of the world are constantly on the look-out to know what others are doing, with a view to incorporating in their own systems whatever new or useful thing may suit their needs. In this connection it is interesting to note that the holder of the Chief Commercial Manager's post on the L.M.S. has made a start by giving each station a quota of traffic to reach. The L.M.S. deserves all success in its new venture.
The surviving spirit of sport, its ability to live through hard times and retain vigour and freshness, is well exemplified in the Wellington Railway Cricket Club, which this year commences its thirty-fifth season.
Started away back in the old Manawatu Railway days (in 1897) it has entered teams for Wellington championship contests each year since, with the exception of one war year, and it has, on occasion, occupied honourably high positions on the competition ladder.
The fact of continuity for so long a period is remarkable when it is remembered that membership is drawn from all ranks of the service—a service in which “transfers” are a matter of course and a “settled” job is rare indeed; where “Saturday afternoon off” is the privilege of comparatively few; where “shifts” have to be worked by large numbers, and where many of the staff spend much of their lives at places far removed from the happy leather-hunting grounds of cricket.
This year the Club, which is entering two teams (including one for the Junior Championship) will make a determined effort to top the grade, and asks for the help and interest of their fellow railwaymen in making the season a successful one for the club. The secretary, Mr. C. W. Vennimore (c/o Stores Controller, Head Office) will be glad to enrol new members.
The Mystery Train steamed into many homes in New Zealand on Tuesday, 30th August., through Station 2ZW, when the first Radio Mystery “Hike” was broadcast by the Vacuum Oil Co. Pty. Ltd.
Under the direction of the popular Mr. Voco, the programme was perhaps one of the best novelty items that has been broadcast for some considerable time. Judging by the telephone calls and letters received, many who had their first “hike” by radio on that occasion will take part in future Mystery Train Trips.
The scene, or should one say the sound, opened at Thorndon with the trampers chatting on the platform and in the carriages waiting for the Mystery Train to leave. The clanging of a real station bell, the blowing of a whistle—and the train was heard to steam out of the station.
Listeners were then transported into a carriage full of typical trampers, and joined in the joy of the community singing, with the realistic sound of the train in the background. The touch of realism was enhanced by the sound of a mouth organ in the next carriage, and, coming faintly as if from a carriage further up the train, the music of a cornet.
Leaving the train, the trampers started on the walk singing a swing chorus, which gradually faded away into the distance.
The lunch-time impromptu concert, and the return journey in the train, with its community singing and jolly good-fellowship, created a clever impression of a “hiking” party. Throughout the journey Mr. Voco described the route, without mentioning place names, and listeners were offered cash prizes for naming the stations where the trampers left and rejoined the train.
The whole programme was cleverly produced, and should further popularise Mystery Trains in New Zealand.
For the last fortnight dull care has been banished, and hundreds of young New Zealand optimists have made merry on the sunny slopes of Mt. Ruapehu. In the seaboard cities there is an impression that The Chateau sits amidst the ice and snow, and that its visitors only venture abroad when clad in garments more fitted for the North Pole than their own National Park. For weeks the mountains have been bathed in sunlight, and climbers have received a coat of tan that even Auckland's sunny beaches could not give them.
Early in the month the Auckland railway station saw the first contingent of mountaineers arrive with skis, ice axes, ropes and equipment designed to conquer the mountain peaks and glistening snow fields of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu. Many were the expressions of delight that the train left in the afternoon, and allowed its passengers to be in The Chateau before midnight.
On arrival at National Park station the motor service that co-operates with the Railways Department had a fleet of buses and cars waiting, and the short road journey of ten miles soon brought the visitors in sight of the great pile of buildings, ablaze with coloured lights, and with its hundreds of flashing windows bidding a welcome to the first Alpine Club to arrive for the Winter Sports. Night after night saw an influx of railway passengers, until 350 mountaineers and their friends packed the five stories of The Chateau from basement to attic.
The New Zealand Snow Sports Championships were contested in brilliant weather, and attracted record entries from Australia, England, Sweden, and all parts of the Dominion. Several members of the British Alpine Club also competed, and although ski-ing is quite a new pastime here, the overseas competitors were always hard pressed by native-born sons, who in several instances had made their own skis from New Zealand woods. The principal race was won by a member of the Taranaki Alpine Club, who had not only bent and shaped his skis, but had forged the necessary metal parts. His win against the overseas visitors, equipped with gear from world-famous ski-makers, caused the utmost enthusiasm amongst the hundreds of spectators who lined the snowfields to see the exciting finish of a hard and gruelling race.
At the conclusion of the New Zealand Championships, Messrs. Mitchell and Tennant, the Australian champions, were given an official farewell by the members of the oldest and largest ski club in New Zealand, the Ruapehu Ski Club, supported by representatives from the University Clubs, Taranaki Alpine Clubs, Tararua Club, Auckland Alpine Club, Hutt Valley Club, Mr. L. O. Hooker (Vice-President of the Federation), and Mr. J. Linklater, M.P.
The annual Winter Sports Ball was an outstanding success, over 400 guests filling the great lounge, and many startling and original costumes were evolved from the materials found in the Park. As the Grand March commenced, an immense ape, clad in a skin torn from a mountain deer shot that morning, sprang from the main staircase, and so realistic was his acting that there was no question as to the winner of “the most original costume.”
The increasing popularity of snow sports showed that even the large Chateau was all too small to hold the intending guests, and over 200 bookings had to be refused. The improved rail services, allowing visitors to reach or depart from National Park at 11 p.m., has made it accessible to all.
In common with other industries the railways find the question “what can be done to make more business?” a very pressing one at the present time.
While steadfastly maintaining the high safety factor we appear to have brought the cost of producing transport to as low a figure as can reasonably be attained under existing conditions and on the present volume of traffic. No phase of economical production has been overlooked, and the Department has not hesitated to engage in any enterprise where careful investigation has shewn that an immediate benefit in the direction of lowering costs could be attained. An example of this is the present building of thirty locomotives of large capacity to effect saving in operating expenditure.
But, apart from recovering business from competitors, no transport undertaking can create traffic in general commodities—the traffic from which most of a railway's business is derived. The flow and volume of this depend upon general conditions of trade. Hence it is that the spring stirring from the winter of depression in general world affairs is looked to as the main source from which recovery in the volume of railway traffic may arise. Thus, for example, the success of the Ottawa Conference should have favourable reactions upon railway business in New Zealand.
There is, however, a margin of business in passenger transport which may be enlarged by suitable enterprise, and this possibility is being exploited by the Department to a considerable extent. The travel movement to specific tourist localities has been stimulated by co-operative effort in newspaper, poster, and folder advertising by the Department acting in conjunction with those interested in the respective resorts. Such travel helps to break up stagnation both directly, by the business it produces, and indirectly, by the fresher outlook and more progressive spirit which travel of this kind engenders.
Certainly what the railway machine wants at the present time is a greater volume to handle. The staff are keyed up to a high state of efficiency. The machine is working well, but much below capacity. Anything that tends to increase the volume of traffic to be transported will help importantly in making the Railways more profitable to the country.
General Manager.
Ottawa Compromise—Its Sound Wisdom—Trade in the Crucible—U.S. Anti-Slump Experiments—Princes and Sea Power
The range of the work done at the Ottawa Conference was no more and no less than reasonable people expected. Those English free-trade critics who say that too much has been done, and those foreign observers who say that next to nothing has been done, may be left to argue it out; their arguments cancel each other. The truth lies in between. Britain was, from the outset, determined that help given to Empire trade should not connote ruin to foreign trade; and as she (and we) need both, who will blame her? Certainly the Dominion delegates have not done so. They received, and gave, concessions. What they received was partly Customs preferences, partly “quota.” Value of the trade thus won can be proved only by experience. Continuous observation of working results will win new knowledge.
Negotiations between Britain and the Dominions started with a 10 per cent. ad valorem duty imposed by Britain on certain foreign goods. This duty was due to expire on Nov. 15; its continuance was part of the British offer at Ottawa. Over and above that, Britain was prepared to give a greater preference than this 10 per cent. in certain cases. Consider butter. If Britain had confined her offer to continuing the 10 per cent. ad valorem, then, whatever the price of butter might be, Danish would pay 10 per cent. on value, and Dominion butter would enter Britain free. But Britain now gives Dominion butter a preference over foreign of 15/- per cwt. (not ad valorem), and this means a 15 per cent. preference when butter is at 100/- per cwt., receding to a 10 per cent. preference (as now) when butter is at 150/- per cwt.
When one remembers the interest of the British worker in cheap food, and the interest of the British people in Danish trade, the reasoning behind that butter preference (falling as price rises) is plain to see. If anyone says that the Mother Country should simply have given her whole butter market to the Dominions, well—would Dorman Long (whose employees eat butter) have secured that bridge contract in Denmark? While Britain gives no “quota” in butter, she does give a “quota” in meat, and in doing so she has done what some more cautious Britons thought she would not do—she has placed a limitation on the quantity imported of Argentine chilled, for which there is in Britain a popular preference.
British capital in Argentina does not like this, but tells the Argentine people that the cure is to “buy British,” and thus reduce the unbalance of Argentine trade with Britain.
If Denmark, Argentina, and other nations that have for years exported largely to Britain—without importing as largely from her—take the lesson to heart and “buy British,” and if the Empire units do the same, returning prosperity may bring a new grouping of trade factors. Commerce is so mobile that it might have proved dangerous had Ottawa made large cast iron decisions. As things are, Ottawa has given a modest start to a great experiment—one that needs continuous observation, and one that the Empire should enter with a pliant mind. With some Ottawa help in the matter of dairy produce, meat and apples, the Dominion marches on to the possibilities of very direct Budgetary help in the interest field. The chief stranglehold on the Budgets of borrowing countries, in a time of gold appreciation, is the rigidity of interest. A loan conversion, on the British 2,000 million model, would help to correct those paralysing changes which raised the goods equivalent of external debt burdens by 50 per cent.
Russian and American marketing policies are a study in contrast. The American policy of holding wheat for a price was the result of confidence in capital strength, lack of which impelled the Russians to a policy of selling. If (as is alleged) Russian State capitalism pays only a food wage, and is concerned not about present living standards but mainly about securing foreign credits with which to buy agricultural machinery, etc., then the motive is plain. It is equally plain that America is very much concerned with maintaining standards, and that private and State capital in the United States have stood together in the long fight for better prices. Evidently the fight is far from being over, for President Hoover has just induced Congress to expand the Federal Farm Loan System with 125 million dollars new capital. A rise in wheat between now and the Presidential election would be claimed for Hoover as a tremendous win.
In Britain, cheap wheat—and other food and raw material—from Russia is variously viewed. Some see behind it a new Soviet capitalism, which will eclipse the older private capitalism by sacrificing both profit and wage until the producing machinery of the world is captured. Others there are who deride the idea that the economic conquest of individually-free peoples can be accomplished by the cheap labour (or even the forced labour) of one. Partly in its political, but mostly in its economic aspect, “Russian dumping” came before the Ottawa Conference, and the British purchasers of Russian goods did not altogether share the antidumping zeal of those Dominions who sell rival commodities. If there is political poison lurking in cheap food from Russia, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald is not afraid to take the risk. However, the Conference agreed that dumping must not be allowed to frustrate Empire preferences.
In the United States, the fight to maintain standards—or, rather, not to lose them altogether—has led to a great Presidential programme of lending and spending. It has been called inflation. But inflation is a question of degree. Big as his anti-depression programme is, President Hoover can say that he successfully resisted a much greater inflation that had been endorsed by a Congress which, facing election, yielded to the old temptation to bribe the electors, and threw the onus of veto on to the President. In vetoing Bills sent to him, and in pointing out to Congress its own hypocrisy, the President said that those Bills would have created the greatest
An even greater “trade crime” than dumping is the boycott. Chinese boycotting has led to one undeclared war with Japan, and may lead to another, for the Japanese allege that the boycott at Shanghai is being renewed with the support of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which support they would regard as strengthening the case for another armed intervention. It should be noted that for some time Japanese and Shanghai papers have been discussing a proposal that Greater Shanghai (not merely the foreign settlements there) should be made a Free City, with an independent status under the League of Nations, or with sufficient independence to secure for trade an open door. The Chinese nationalists, who wish to take back the foreign settlements, would be aghast at this new amputation. Dare they risk another boycott and another sanguinary clash?
Advertising “Mystery Trains” In New Zealand
(Rly. Publicity photo.)
Special display arranged by the Railways Publicity Branch in co-operation with R. Hannah and Company, Ltd., and exhibited in the window of the firm's Lambton Quay shop, Wellington.
The Princes' Mediterranean cruise emphasises the importance of sea power, and of Malta and Egypt. Egypt is the steppingstone to the Sudan, where they now grow cotton on the Gezira plain, which is being irrigated by the Sennar Dam, and which has an area almost as great as the whole of cultivated Egypt. Egypt was a base in the World War, and is to-day a base for such minor (yet potent) expeditions as the Royal Air Force operation against Arab tribes, who were controlled by about 500 men who flew from Egypt to the Bagdad region, and whose return was announced on the 17th August. Each troop-carrying aeroplane carried eighteen soldiers and a crew of about five. These big machines have been featured recently in the moving pictures (a new avenue of publicity with big possibilities). They have another sensation coming in Mollison's Atlantic feat, which the world applauds.
Let's go into mysterics. What is mystery? Mystery, according to the dictionary, is “something beyond human comprehension,” such as selling plus-fours to sailors, selling grandfather clocks to Professor Einstein on the time-payment system, or tossing the pint at the Olimpic games.
Some say that the greatest mystery in life is life, and there is no doubt that often it seems “something beyond human comprehension”; others opine that mystery is merely mist-ery or blighter's cramp in the brain. Many maintain that life is as full of mystery as Edgar Allan Poesy, the day dreams of a night-watchman, or the private life of a ghost. To most of us, life is a mystery from early infancy to hurly-burly sinfancy. For instance, it is a mystery how man has succeeded in surviving the horrors of civilisation, why history repeats itself when it ought to know better, and how the ant always remembers to recollect that it is an ant and regulates its antics accordingly. It is a mystery where the hole in a sock goes to, how Scotch children know what money looks like, and why rabbits never get rabies. It is a mystery how tail-less dogs know when they're pleased, why elephants don't come from Tuscany, whether horse-stingers now bite motor cars, where a noise goes to, who trains the mystery trains, and who puts the mist into the mystery?
Thereon hangs a tail which won't wag. Is there a plotchery in the Railway where mystery-trains are hatched? Is there a bogey chamber deep down deep where the sleepers sleep, and conspirators conspirit with the spirit of mystery? Let's misuse the mystic muse.
The only way to solve a mystery is to dissolve it in the spirit of adventure. Mystery-trains are like horse racing, in that you never know what you are going to get until you have got it; but the difference is that every one who puts his Shirt on a mystery train is sure of getting even more than he expects, whereas at horse-racing he seldom even gets even; it is the difference between a “stunning” rumour and a running “stumer.”
A mystery train is not trained like other trains. It rails under sealed orders, and its assembly is a dissembly in the dead of night. Each member of its crew wears his Sunday clothes, so that no one knows his mate. They all wear rubber collars to soften their voices to a whisper. The driver's oil-can contains the spirit of mystery, and the furnace is fed with coal from Scotland Yard. The guard is disguised as a guide, and wears yodels on his hat. The shunters wear tamashunters on their heads and chamois-punters on their feet, so that they will not wake the sleepers. Even the engine's pants are of a subdued design, and its cow-catcher is cowed. The carriages all have their seats turned back to front so that they know not whether they are going or coming back, and their windows are blinded. The van is disguised as a “why” wagon, and the rails are wrapped in sausage skin to add to the mystery. Even the wheel-tapper plays “taps” with a rubber hammer, and is Scotch, thus ensuring dead silence. Every carriage is turned three times on the turn-table to make it giddy, and the ticket clerk is hypnotised into the belief that he is Christopher Columbus or the Wandering Juniper. When dissembled, the train is cleaned by secret-service men with vacuum cleaners, and is then ready to go where it doesn't know it's going. Even the stationmaster walks backwards, and the porters port their helms to starboard when they report. Is it any wonder that mystery trains provide more thrill than a banana skin on a spiral staircase.
One of these days some one will write a thriller called “The Mystery of the Mystery Train,” wherein the Terrible Three are kidnapped, and the secret screwed out of them with screw-jacks and ticket punches. Then everyone will know where the mystery train is going, except the train and the staff, and the mystery will be one on the mystery train.
Mystery is the essence of life, and the yeast in the dough of existence. The future is as mysterious as the inside of a three-penny pie. If life were de-mysticised it would be as flat as a flounder's
Unlike the flounder, some people try to flounder into the future, reducing the incomprehensible to the reprehensible. This is called fortune-telling, or fortune-hunting, when it is perpetrated with one eye on the future and the other on the present, and unfortunately is the only form of vocality banned by law.
But everyone has an aunt who, with no thought of reward except the satisfaction of making everyone unhappy, can see sea trips in tea cups, marriage and other misfortunes in cards, and one's future in one's face. No wonder some futures are too awful to contemplate. The worst feature of the burst future is that, according to auntie, nothing you do can undo the hoodoo auntie puts on you. With a twist of the wrist she purports to nip the veil from the face of the future. It is bad enough to have a past, but when you have a past pursuing you and a future waiting for you, you might as well admit everything and take what's coming to you.
A Mystery Train
Auntie first glances into your cup hopefully, and then into your mug hopelessly. All you can discern in your cup is the currant you missed from your bun and some fragments of broken pekoe which have been broken away from the main body. The general aspect resembles “The Morning after the Storm,” or “Seaweed hung out to Dry,” painted by Accident. But to auntie it is laughter and tears, sunshine and rain, destiny and debt, and the future all set out with the frankness of a butcher's interior decorations.
Mystery is as necessary to our comfort as any other sort of ignorance. If we knew to-day yesterday, and to-morrow to-day, the only way to enjoy peace would be to be born with white whiskers and end our days in Plunketry.
So let's always keep Mystery in train and entrain with Mystery on the Mystery Train.
“Mystery Trains” have evidently “taken on” with school children (says the Wairarapa Daily News). Recently was noticed a string of youngsters, of about four to eight years old, all blindfolded, and led by another who was not blindfolded, in a zig-zag course. In answer to a question, the observer was informed: “We are a mystery train.” When arrived at the destination chosen by the leader, and given their sight again, the “train” expressed the greatest delight. They played that game over and over again with undiminished enjoyment.
Mr. Arthur L. Stead
Since the publication of the first London Letter in the March, 1927, issue of our Magazine, we have received many expressions of appreciation of the interesting and able manner in which the author has reviewed, and interpreted, month by month, the story of railway progress in different parts of the world. From their inception the Letters have been characterised by wide knowledge of contemporary railway developments, clarity of statement, a fine optimism concerning the future of the railways, and a wealth of information covering the whole field of railway transport, giving them definite value to our readers as a source of authoritative reference upon railway and transportation matters generally. In future the Letters will appear under the name of their author, Mr. Arthur L. Stead, whose photograph, together with a brief biographical sketch, is reproduced on this page.
Mr. Stead, who has adopted as his slogan, “Really Dependable Railway Information Attractively Imparted,” has had considerable railway experience, having served for some twenty years in various departments of one of the leading British railways.
On the outbreak of the Great War he served first as a trooper in H.M. Life Guards, then as a Commissioned Officer with railway troops and Royal Engineers in France, Belgium and Germany, and later as District Traffic Officer with military light railways at Arras and Armentieres. Subsequently he was Railway Staff Officer with the Rhine Army, serving in Colonge, Herbesthal, and other places in this region.
He commenced spare-time journalism about 1913, resigning from the railway service in 1926 to take up journalism as a definite profession. Since that time he has been a regular contributor to railway and engineering publications in Britain and overseas, as well as being a regular contributor to the general Press, and is one of the pioneers of the London Letter for overseas railway journals.
Mr. Stead is the author of “Light Railway Working on the Western Front,” which was favourably reviewed in the Official War Transportation Issue of the Railway Gazette, the Engineer, and Engineering.
“A bright spot in the working year of the railways is provided by the figures of the inter-Island traffic, which constitutes a convenient system of through booking by rail and sea,” said the General Manager of Railways, Mr. P. G. Roussell, in a statement made recently.
“In spite of the depression, this business shows an encouraging increase of 3,600 tons for the year,” Mr. Roussell said. “The details show, too, that with the spreading of information about this convenient system the general public is taking advantage of it. The total of 20,100 tons, includes, of course, many large lines, but the bulk of the traffic was in comparatively small lots, representing many thousands of consignments.
“The far-ranging effects of even this one branch of railway enterprise are seen in the fact that during the year the Department paid, out of through-booking revenue, £28,300 in sea freights, £1,690 in cartage, and £4,500 in wharfage, covering practically every port in the Dominion.”
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The London and North-Eastern Railway Company has faith in advertising.
Mr. Thomas Hornsby, General Manager, said that his company spent £1,000 every day of the year on advertising. This year nearly 200,000 posters of 90 varieties, covering a total area of 280,000,000 square inches of colour, had been produced. To advertise North-Eastern holiday resorts alone, three thousand advertisements, covering 5,500 inches, were inserted in ninety-four newspapers.
“The importance which the United States attaches to the business of traffic management is shewn by the fact that the subject has recently been submitted to a Government survey, following which a report has just been made public by the Department of Commerce” (states Modern Transport, London). The paper goes on to observe that the survey was undertaken in co-operation with national and local traffic organisations with the object of revealing sources of waste. It is pointed out that, even in the States, transportation expenses are amongst the least understood of the major cost elements in business. In medium-sized businesses they were found to average 25 per cent. of the total operating costs of the undertaking, and in many instances were much higher. Even in very large industries at least 10 per cent. of the total costs were found to represent traffic charges. Some of the more important sources of loss in business administration are shown to consist of failure to obtain proper rates on consignments and to combine less-than-car load shipments into car loads, or carelessness in checking freight accounts, or neglect in the prosecution of claims on the carriers, and lack of precaution to ensure efficient packing. Well-managed traffic departments, it is stated, invariably yield profits, besides ensuring the even flow inwards of raw materials and speedy distribution of the finished product. In the United States effective traffic management in commercial undertakings is now taking its place as a major phase of business activity.
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There is another verse in David McKee Wright's poem on Nelson which avers that “here trade's loud wheels but slowly turn.” Super-sensitive citizens, however, may not regard this as a compliment to their town. There once was a jibe about “sleepy Nelson,” but it is long out of date. The truth is that Nelson city, with its highly productive wealthy province, endowed with rich soil and pleasant climate, is anything but slow in trade or behind the times in business methods. Commerce here is many-sided and the general impression the traveller gets of Nelson is a place of vigorous development and an export trade that is steadily on the increase.
At the same time there is an atmosphere of a very special charm that distinguishes the clean white town and the country around it—an air of content and comfort, of green and leafy spaces, of serene, fruitful valleys, of shelter from the roystering winds of which Wellington, across the water, gets the full and over-bracing benefit.
There was a peculiar charm, too, in one's first introduction to Nelson. It was in the old mail-coach days, overlanding from Have-lock, at the head of Pelorus Sound, where the coaches came through from Blenheim to Nelson. On the box-seat behind one of Newman's good four-horse teams, it was very pleasant that bright summer day, speeding through the woody Rai Valley and climbing the Whangamoa Saddle, where the settler's hand had not yet quite destroyed the beauty of the forested range. A sound of music, strange to hear in such a place, came down the valley, and round a bend in the bush-girt road came a coach with all the people on top playing away at instruments. There were cornets and oboes and flageolets and I don't know what else, and a couple of girl fiddlers, and they swept past us playing away like “Billy-be-damned,” as our driver so accurately described it, and scarcely giving us a glance. We looked back to see them roll round another bend, and after they were out of sight we could still hear the strains coming faintly from the bush. They were a touring family of musicians and entertainers, very popular at that day, and they rehearsed as they travelled along in their own vehicle from town to town, thereby killing two birds with the one stone. And then, with that poetic prelude, we went along over the hills and down into Happy Valley, the calm waters of Tasman Bay glimmering on our right far away to the hazy blue shore of sunset-land, and so into Nelson in the cool of the evening.
It is a curious fact that Nelson Settlement was named long before a site was chosen for it. It was the second of the little colonies planted by the Wakefields for the New Zealand Company, and it was named in England before the pioneer ships sailed in 1841. When the expedition reached Wellington, the problem was to find a location
The existence of Nelson Haven was then quite unknown to Europeans, but there was an enterprising young master mariner in Wellington, Captain F. G. Moore, who commanded a smart brigantine called the “Jewess” and who had traded with the Maoris at West Wanganui and other places on the Northern end of the South Island. He was a friend of Charles Heaphy, the surveyor, afterwards famed for his explorations. Moore thought it might be profitable to the New Zealand Company to search Blind Bay or Tasman Bay for a suitable site, and the Wakefields asked him to accompany the “Whitby” as pilot in the exploration. The ships sailed across Cook Strait and anchored at Astrolabe Island, in Blind Bay. From Captain Wakefield's, Moore and Heaphy cruised about the great bay in boats—two large Deal luggers brought out in the “Whitby.” It was Captain Moore who, with a young surveyor named Brown, and a crew consisting of Coxswain Cross and four sailors, was the first to discover the celebrated Boulder Bank, and the safe haven behind it. Moore was the first white man to set foot on the 9-miles long stony bank. Rejoining the boat he sailed into the sheltered harbour, took soundings, and reconnoitred the landing in the strange uninhabited country, and the crew pitched camp on November 5, 1841.
That was a dramatic Guy Fawkes night. When dark came on, Moore and his comrades saw a fire blazing in the distance on Astrolabe Island, where Captain Wakefield had promised to light one. The arrangement was that the boat's crew should light a fire and signal with rockets if a suitable site were discovered. So presently up blazed the first pakeha bonfire on the shore of Whakatu (“stand up and fight”), where Nelson now stands, and after a little a rocket sailed up from the ship at distant Astrolabe. Moore fired three rockets as an answering signal, another one flashed from the “Whitby,” and the dull boom of a ship's gun came over the water. The night was calm and clear, and all hands rejoiced at the fortunate conclusion of the day's work and a tot of brandy was served out to each in celebration of the history-making occasion. Four days later the three pioneer vessels arrived in the new haven, piloted by Captain Moore and under the secure lee of the great natural breakwater—the Tahuna-a-Tamaiea of the Maoris—lay the founders of the now wealthy province of Nelson.
The facts about the actual discovery of Nelson Haven are not generally known. Some have credited Captain Wakefield with the finding of the harbour, other writers have named the coxswain Cross, a Deal boatman, as the finder. Captain Moore however, was the real discoverer, he had a shrewd idea, from his partial knowledge of the coast, that a usable harbour should be found somewhere at the bottom of Blind Bay.
“The city of sunshine, fruit and flowers” is a description that has been written of Nelson. It can be enlarged in its scope of reference to embrace most of the province; it certainly fits well the beautiful country from which the city draws its business and fills the holds of the ships that come in to the haven by the deep channel cut through the ancient bank Tahuna-a-Tamaiea. Much of the city itself certainly seems embowered in trees and gardens. The half-circle of hills that guards the place from the blustering winds of south and west gives it a serene quiet of air, and the hot sunshine it collects is agreeably tempered by the sea-breath from the great bay in front. Gardens and orchards and leafy parks are all about, and the intermingling of urban and sylvan landscape is a feature that particularly appeals to visitors from larger cities. No town, except perhaps Akaroa, has such pretty walks inviting the saunterer to go on and on. There is green everywhere. One
This is a place of some history. There was an old-time Maori pa on the hill, and when the Wairau massacre of 1843 occurred the pioneers of Nelson were so apprehensive of attack by Te Rauparaha and his Ngati-Toa and their allies that they set to work and built a fort on the hill, which they named Fort Arthur, after Captain Arthur Wakefield, their greatly-liked chief who fell at Wairau. This was an earthwork and stockade, with six guns. Fortunately Nelson's early stronghold was never required, and when the fort was demolished the English Church took its place.
Here men may pause and joy to live.”
Picturesque Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
The names Nelson and Trafalgar and many another name of town and surroundings give a strong patriotic colour to the place. It is distinctly a Royal Navy town in its nomenclature, a perpetual reminder of England's glorious history on the sea. So we find streets named Nile, St. Vincent, Victory, Vanguard, Collingwood and Hardy. In an account of the selection of local names by a committee of settlers in 1842 we find Fort Bastia, Fort Calvi, Aboukir Battery and The Heights of Agamemnon. The last was perhaps rather too much of a mouthful, for it does not seem to have been retained. England's great writers are remembered; there are Shakespeare Walk and Milton Grove.
A few miles up the valley, where the native bush is entered there are lovely nooks for the artist. A walk rewarding one with a fine panorama of blue sea, white town, green fields and encircling ranges is a climb to Britannia Heights, a public reserve between the town and the port. There is a very pretty little park, with shady walks and a serpentine lakelet.
A church should always if possible be set on a hill, and Nelson has a splendid site of that kind for its new cathedral, which replaces an old wooden building, on a noble
Nelson has a marked atmosphere of culture and scientific learning. Its fine colleges, its School of Music and its Art Gallery are old institutions; more recent the Cawthron Institute of Scientific Research, a richly endowed home of skilled technical investigations into problems which particularly affect New Zealand's varied productions from the soil.
There is gold in some of the mountains of Nelson; there is wealth in silver, copper iron ore, and coal; there is wealth in its great forests of the back country. But most of all is the province rich in soil. Pre-eminently this is the land of orchards. There is a driving circuit of some thirty miles over the Waimea Plain which takes one through the most attractive and fruitful country.
Better still, take the train to the rail-head through the heart of the great agricultural and orchard land, a region of fruit and grain crops, of hop-fields—for this is the great Kent-like hops-area of New Zealand—through dairy farms with herds of high-grade stock, through sheep and cattle country and on to the rugged bush hills of the upper Buller Country. Richmond, Appleby, Hope, Brightwater, Spring-grove, Wakefield are traversed, all the sweetest of scenes of rural life and industry. Then by that way you can go on to the bold defile of the Buller Gorge and the West Coast, for this railway is the first section of the grand overland route to the glories of Westland, its forests and gorges and lakes, its alps and its glaciers.
Abundance now crowns the year.”
(Govt. Publicity photo.)
In the hop fields of Sunny Nelson.
In another direction, up along the western side of the great gulf, there are comfortable looking townships and farming districts—Motueka, Riwaka, Collingwood, Takaka, all adding their quota to Nelson's big export trade. South away there are two beautiful lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa, water-sheets of alpine character, very deep and clear, surrounded by forested mountains, the haunt of the red deer.
One wonderful corner of North Nelson calls for a paragraph to itself. This is a great crystal-clear cold spring, called by the Maoris the Waingaro-pupu, or “Bubbling Fountain of Hidden Water.” It is an underground river suddenly released to the light of day, and discharging an enormous volume of water. The stream is a tributary of the Takaka River. This ever-welling fountain, an Arethusa of the southern world, rises from the underworld like the Hamurana at Rotorua, but is far larger than that famous and much-visited spring.
The Rotorua “Limited” near the end of its 171 mile run to Auckland
In its reply to representations regarding the Tapanui branch railway, the Government Railways Board recently outlined important features of policy in relation to railway operation and its bearing on the general transport position in districts served by branch railways. The General Manager wrote to the local authorities, inter alia, as follows:—
“While the Department believes it is getting the major portion of the traffic from this district it is quite apparent that there is still a substantial amount of legitimate railway traffic being conveyed by road and, in view of the final decision at which the Department would wish to arrive, namely, the retention of the branch line to Edievale, the Board wishes to emphasise that it is in the interests of your district that this competition should be discouraged. The Board, therefore, desires to invite your further assistance and the efforts of those associated with you throughout the district in the direction of securing entire support of the railway system by all interests in your territory.
“According to present indications, the goods service licensing provisions of the Transport Licensing Act will be brought into force in the not very distant future. When this happens the Department's competitors will be required to make application to the licensing authorities of their respective transport districts for licenses to operate their services. The principal questions for decision in the case of each applicant are, according to the Act:
1. The extent to which the proposed service is desirable or necessary in the public interest; and
2. The needs of the district or districts as a whole in relation to goods transport.
“If, after considering these matters, the licensing authority is of opinion that the proposed service is unnecessary or undesirable, it must refuse to grant a license. On the other hand, if, after having regard to those matters, the licensing authority proposed to give further consideration to the application, it is required to take into account, inter alia, the applicant's financial position, the frequency of the service, the charges proposed to be made, the other transport services (e.g., railways), the vehicles proposed to be used and the conditions of the roads to be traversed.
“A licensing authority is also required to take into account any evidence and representations received at the hearing and any representations made by local authorities
“In anticipation that the people of the district will exercise the right conferred upon them by the Act and thus protect their own interests, the Board, with a view to maintaining unimpaired the railway system of the Dominion, has, after very careful consideration of the representations made in this connection, decided to continue for the present the operation of the Tapanui branch line and to afford the requisite services.
“In arriving at this decision, the Board desires me to emphasise the absolute necessity for the securing of all traffic to rail in order that the action taken may be fully justified. The Board will be glad, therefore, if you will be good enough to take appropriate steps to further stimulate traffic to the rail thus assuring the Department of the undivided support of your district, on which measure of support the ultimate operation of the line necessarily depends.”
Getting Ready For The Road
(Rly. Publicity Photo.)
Flashlight photograph in the locomotive sheds at Palmerston North. Preparing an Ab class engine for a night run
Very striking achievements are being recorded through the utilisation of the European train-ferries. Thanks to the existence of the efficient train-ferry service between Harwich, England, and Zeebrugge, Belgium, it was recently possible to run a through freight train of mammoth proportions from Manchester, England, to Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The train was formed of a number of special English and German ferry-service trucks loaded with equipment for the electrification of the Hungarian State Railways, among which were several large transformers demanding special handling.
“Trade is slowly improving at Home, and with this improvement comes promise of more prosperous times for the railways. Last year—a year of serious trade depression—more than 250,000,000 tons of freight were handled by the four big group railways, and during the present year it is anticipated that this figure will be considerably exceeded,” says our Special London Correspondent in his current review of recent railway developments in Britain and on the Continent.
In order to meet the requirements of traders, the Home railways have built up a comprehensive service of express freight trains, linking up the principal industrial centres. Over two hundred braked freight trains, run at high speeds and hauled by powerful locomotives, operate nightly between London and other cities, giving next day deliveries to places as far distant as Glasgow, Liverpool, Cardiff and Plymouth. No additional charge is made for the conveyance of freight by these fast services, and their dependability is so great that a shipper can calculate, almost to half an hour, the particular time at which his traffic will arrive at destination.
To keep pace with the improvement in train running, terminal operations have been greatly speeded up. Large sums of money are being spent in rebuilding and laying out new goods stations equipped with overhead electric travelling cranes and other appliances to facilitate the handling of merchandise traffic. An interesting feature is the operation by the four Home railways of nearly 1,000 warehouses, situated at key positions, and having accommodation of over 25,000,000 square feet. Under a comprehensive storage and distribution scheme launched by the railways, freight is dispatched in bulk from the factory by fast trains at a reduced rail rate. On arrival at railhead depot the goods are stored, and subsequent delivery to customers in the surrounding area is undertaken by the railways to the order of the sender or his accredited agents. Door-to-door conveyance is assisted by means of containers, which enable freight to be carried from works to destination without intermediate handling. More than 6,000 containers are in use in Britain to-day, and the number is constantly being augmented.
One new field of utility covered by the container service is that of conveying household furniture. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway is interesting itself in this new field, having recently put a number of special furniture containers into traffic. These are larger containers than any previously employed, the idea being to permit of the loading of tall
The special point about this new furniture removal service is that the L.M. and S. Railway give quotations covering all services incidental to the removal, i.e., dismantling and stowing furniture in containers by experienced men; transport by road to the railway station, where the containers are transferred by crane to railway wagon; movement by rail to destination station; transfer to road vehicle; and unpacking and re-housing at consignee's residence.
Rail-Road Co-Ordination Up-To-Date
New type of furniture container on the L.M. and S. Railway
Last month reference was made in this Letter to the efforts being made to secure increased economy and efficiency through the amalgamation of certain London passenger stations. On the goods side, too, the possibilities attending a move of this nature are being closely watched, and as a first step two of the big London goods depots of the Southern line—the Bricklayers' Arms and the Willow Walk stations—will shortly be amalgamated, to form one big depot.
Under the new arrangement, these two stations of the former South Eastern and Chatham and London, Brighton and South Coast Railways respectively, with their inwards and outwards sheds and marshalling yards, will be combined, so that the original Bricklayers' Arms depot will handle all inward traffic, and the Willow Walk station all outward shipments. This will mean doubling the size of the outward shed, which, on completion, will be the largest goods shed in Britain. Over three hundred wagons will be accommodated in this shed adjacent to the platform. The yard will consist of eight roads, laid in pairs. Four road tracks will be provided, with an approximate width of forty feet each. Provision will be made (by the erection of a covered way spanning two sets of rails) for dealing with yard traffic that requires protection
Grouping of the Home railways has been the means of saving considerable sums of money in the locomotive department. Each of the Home lines builds and repairs most of its locomotives in its own shops, and the economies effected by the L.M. and S. Railway in locomotive operation may be taken as typical of the achievements of the group lines generally.
A Busy Locomotive Works In Britain
A peep at the brass finishing shop in the famous Crewe Workshops
The standardisation policy of the L.M. and S. Railway resulted in a lowering in locomotive expenditure in 1931 by £3,250,000, as compared with 1927. Since 1923 the number of different types of locomotives employed has been reduced from 393 to 261. Standardisation of renewal work has contributed materially to the 12 1/2 per cent. reduction which the Euston authorities have made in their locomotive stock, viz., from 10,316 in 1923, to 9,032 at the close of last year. In the meantime, the average tractive effort has risen by 12 per cent. Better organisation, and the fact that the latest engines can run larger mileages per day—as, for example, London to Carlisle, Crewe to Glasgow, or Carlisle to Aberdeen—has released for other duties some 250 locomotives, while a contributing factor to the smaller total number required has been the reduction of locomotives under and awaiting repairs at any one time. This number dropped to 383 in 1931, as against 1,958 in 1923, representing a saving on capital lying idle of many thousands of pounds.
In eight years the number of L.M. and S. engines fitted with superheaters has grown from 18 to 40 per cent. of the total stock. This has made possible the use of only one locomotive on heavy trains which formerly were double-headed. Double-heading, by the way, was at one time a feature of the locomotive practice
In the realm of railway signalling, too, there is abundant scope for the exercise of economy. On the Home railways the staffing of signal-boxes alone costs the undertakings £5,000,000 per annum in wages. Thanks to the efforts of the signal engineers, steady reductions are being made in this figure, without in any way reducing the efficiency and safety factor. Economy schemes made possible by means of the amalgamation of signal boxes have in most cases given improved working from a traffic point of view while effecting big savings. On the L. and N.E. line a saving of well over £66,000 per annum has been achieved by the closing of signal boxes.
In general, the closing of signal cabins is being made possible by the introduction of modern electro-mechanical installations.
Very considerable progress continues to be made by the European railways in the co-ordination and development of rail and road passenger and freight traffic. At Home, the policy of co-operating with existing road transport undertakings and municipalities has been followed, and agreements made by the railways with many of the most important road carrying concerns. The railways have also acquired a financial interest in omnibus companies, but in no case a controlling interest. Joint committees, consisting of an equal number of representatives of the railway and the road company, have been constituted to agree upon measures by which the services of the two modes of transport can best be co-ordinated.
In virtue of the agreements come to and the policy pursued, the Home railways are already in a position to offer better services to the public. Inter-availability of rail and road tickets has been established between some 850 points.
In all, the Home railways are interested in the running of 12,000 passenger buses and 4,900 road vehicles for parcels and freight movement.
Where the Railway Welcomes its Patrons.
The recently opened “Welcombe” Hotel of the L.M. and S. Railway at Stratford on Avon.
“A day of such serene enjoyment spent,
Were worth an age of splendid discontent.”—James Montgomery.
(Rly. Publicity Photos.)
Snaps taken on the occasion of Wellington's second Mystery Train Excursion to Lake Papaitonga, 14th August, 1932.
Papaitonga, the objective of Wellington's second “Mystery Train” excursion, on Sunday, August 14th, could well be described as quite off the beaten track. It is not visible from the railway line, although within an easy walk of Ohau Station, and it is very little known to Wellington people. Yet its beauty and its romantic history combine to give it an interest of a very special character; and its seclusion from the routes of travel heightens its charm to those who see it for the first time. Access to the place was granted by the kindness of Mrs. Hammond Murray, whose property it is.
Papaitonga, also known as Waiwiri, is a lake of about 100 acres in extent, containing two islands. It is situated about three miles to the south of Lake Horowhenua, and is, like that lake, shallow over the greater part of its area, and is drained by a winding creek flowing through low-lying land to the sea.
On the northern side there is some tall forest, growing to the water's edge, and the reservation of this native woodland and the light bush on the two islands tends to invest the place with something of the ancient mysterious loveliness of a lake sanctuary.
The Papaitonga estate was formerly the property of the late Sir Walter Buller, author of “The Birds of New Zealand.” He made the lake and its shores a sanctuary for native birds, and in his day bird life was very abundant on the quiet waters, where (except on very rare occasions) never a gun was heard.
There is a Maori village, a small Kainga called Muhonoa, about half a mile from the lake on the seaward side. The few inhabitants are of the Ngati-Raukawa Tribe.
Names of beauty—Papaitonga and Waiwiri. The former is said by the Maoris to be properly the name of the larger island in the lake, and Waiwiri applies to both lake and outlet stream. Papaitonga means “Beauty of the South”; Waiwiri means “Trembling Waters.”
Among the olden folk the lake was celebrated for the exceeding abundance of its waterfowl life and the other foods, such as eels and kakahi or fresh-water shellfish. Also, it was renowned for its beauty; the Maori, for all his practical side, could appreciate the poetry and the hallowed air of this glimmering water-sheet hidden in the forest, with the ferntrees bending over its bays and the raupo gently swishing in the breeze.
There is a tradition which indicates this eye for the fine things of wild nature. A Maori chief, returning to the north from a visit to the Ngati-Raukawa people, halted on a hill where he could view the landscape. Looking back on lovely Papaitonga, shining in the sun, he stretched out his hand and cried: “Farewell, farewell, O Papaitonga! Would that your beauty was the beauty of a woman, then I would seize you in my arms and carry you away with me!”
The shores and islands of this “Beauty of the South” were a debatable land a little over a century ago, the scenes of battles between the musket-armed Ngati-Toa and other invaders from the North
“It is the dim haze of mystery at adds enchantment”—Rivarol
(Railway Publicity photos.)
New Zealand's first Mystery Train, run to Paraparaumu, 7th August, 1932. (1) The driver receiving instructions at Thorndon Station, Wellington; (2) lunching at Paraparaumu beach; (3) arrival at Paraparaumu Station; (4) the party setting out from the station to the beach; (5) the Mystery Trait on the engine; (6) boiling water in readiness; (7) an incident on the tramp along the beach; (8) baby enjoys the fun; (9) a lift on the (10) homeward bound from Paekakariki.
Here comes in the story of the hilly wooded island which is the most conspicuous object in the landscape, opposite the old homestead and the boathouse. Sir George Grey, who had a curiously strong desire to buy a New Zealand island for a home, once endeavoured to purchase Papaitonga and its surroundings, attracted by the beauty of the lake and island. He had tried to purchase Kapiti Island, but without success, and also Mokoia Island, in Lake Rotorua. Eventually he bought Kawau Island, in the Hauraki Gulf. After Grey's time several Governors, and others, negotiated for Papaitonga in vain. In 1891 Dr. Buller acquired the property, about 1,300 acres, and here he made his home in a delightful sylvan solitude.
There is something of mystic gloom, as well as much arboreal beauty, about that tree-clad island Papaitonga, sitting green and lone on the blue face of the Trembling Waters. We pulled across to it one day from the boatshed that stands on the reedy shore close to the historic carved pataka, “Te Takinga,” and an olden Wanganui war-canoe. The island is perhaps 30 feet high, with a steep winding track, nearly obscured by the vegetation, leading up to its centre. There is a sense of an enchanted isle, a place of ghosts and wizardry. The bush overhangs the water; it is starred in the season of flowers with the pure white blossoms of the clematis and the pouhuehue, and the climbing rata vine crimsons a tree clump here and there. In the deeper shades there is a soft twilight, even in broad day. Karaka groves grow thickly, and there are dense shrubberies of mahoe, and clumps of high flax and cabbage-trees. At a turn in the path, in the gloom of the tapu grove, an eerie thing confronted one—a human skull, stuck up on a short pole, grinning as if in menace, a silent warning. In a little open space on the summit of the island, an olden war-canoe, carved and painted, rears itself above the trees; one end is sunk firmly in the ground and stoutly braced. It is a stately memento mori, tapu to the shades of the tribal dead. It was brought here from the Wanganui River, and set up by Sir Walter Buller in 1894. It perpetuates the memory of a chieftainess named Te Riunga, an ancestress of Major Kemp te Rangihiwinui. She was one of the Muaupoko people who were slain when Te Rauparaha and his Ngati-Toa captured the island. The canoe (or, rather, the end of a totara canoe of great size) was known as “Te Koanga-o-Rehua.”
Sitting here on this thrice-tapu island, with a Ngati-Raukawa companion from the little village of Muhunoa, a mile or so away, one heard some thrilling tales of Papaitonga's past. Papaitonga, like Horowhenua, and in fact all this country from Paekakariki to Manawatu and Rangitikei, was owned by the Muaupoko and Rangitane, and some kindred tribes. The Muaupoko had a stronghold on this islet; a stockade, or tuwatawata, encircled it. There were many canoes on the lake; when danger threatened, the people withdrew to the island, taking all their dugouts with them.
It was in the year 1823 that Rauparaha and his Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Awa warriors invaded and captured Papaitonga. Muaupoko brought their fate on themselves, to a certain extent, by a massacre in the vicinity; but the wily Rauparaha had intended to take the place anyway, so the murders only brought matters to a head a little quicker. One of the Muaupoko's prominent chief's was Toheriri; another was Tanguru, the father of the late Major Kemp. They, or some of their fellow chiefs, invited Rauparaha and his friends to a meeting at a place called Te Wi, near Papaitonga, promising him some of the canoes on the lake, and a great feast of eels. The Ngati-Toa came, but after they had had those eels they were attacked in the night-time by their hosts. Rauparaha's daughter, Te Uira (“The
Muaupoko paid very dearly for their deed. The Maori story goes that this island pa was taken by the invaders in a daring manner. The Ngati-Toa swam across—not finding any canoes—and stormed the pa with ferocious savagery. One of the warriors, Te Tipi, won fame by firing his double-barrelled flint musket as he swam from the mainland. Foes who could fire their guns whilst swimming were too much for the nerves of Muaupoko. The islanders had no guns and they fell, and there were some grim deeds of blood on this little island that day of long ago.
An emerald lake now shimmers in the blase.”
(Rly. Publicity Photo.)
Lake Papaitonga, Wellington Province, North Island, New Zealand
There is another island in the lake, much smaller but not less beautiful. It lies near the western side of the Trembling Waters. Its soil is almost level with the waters of the lake. It is but a dot of an isle, and so thickly grown with karaka trees, ti or cabbage-tree, tall flax and ferns, that it seems a tree-grove resting on the shimmering surface of the lake. We can take a boat up through the fringing flax bushes and explore the silent sanctuary. This islet is called Papawharangi.
Like some of the islands in Lake Horowhenua, it is of artificial origin. It was built by the Muaupoko people in the ancient days as a place of refuge. First of all, poles were driven into the shallow lake bottom to define the extent and shape of the proposed island pa. Then masses of niggerhead bulrushes, with the earth attaching to their roots, were brought from the shore and thrown inside the pole line, and this was continued until a mound was formed level with the water. Next great quantities of kakahi shellfish were brought in canoes and deposited there, and after this many canoe-loads of soil, dry fern, and other material, until dry land was formed. Then at last huts were built and a stockade was made all round the islet. Originally, the Maoris say, Papa-wharangi was much larger than it is to-day.
The eastern and north-eastern end of the lake, bordered with some tall timber to the water's edge, was named by Sir Walter Buller “Pember Bay,” in honour of the late Hon. W. Pember Reeves, who visited Papaitonga shortly before he went to London to take up the post of Agent-General for New Zealand. Mr. Reeves cruised about the bright waters in a Rob-Roy canoe, and he gave expression to his admiration of the hallowed place in a poem, which perhaps is not so well known as his other verses. Here are three stanzas from his poem “In Pember Bay”:
Suburban Transport on the N.Z.R.
(From the W. W. Stewart Collection.)
An Auckland suburban train entering Mt. Eden station
When Mr. Reeves visited the place, Papaitonga was a tapu place for bird life, and it was a pretty sight to watch the duck and teal and the dabchicks sail about the quiet waters in security. In the shooting season duck congregated here in thousands, for refuge. The white swan was here, too, filling in the picture with its graceful shape and stately motion.
From Mr. Chas. F. Smith, Kelburn, Wellington to the General Manager of Railways, Wellington:—
On behalf of a party who travelled up to Napier on a week-end excursion train recently, I wish to express appreciation of the attention given throughout the journey by the guard in charge, who did all he could for the comfort of the passengers, even to advising re board, etc., in Hastings and Napier.
The engine crew, too, apparently knew their job, for the smooth running of the train was commented on favourably.
From the Secretary, Dannevirke District A. and P. Association, to the Stationmaster, Dannevirke:—
I have to thank you very sincerely for your kind help in connection with our recent Show. The willing cooperation we had from yourself and staff made our work much easier, and I heard nothing but praise from the exhibitors for the way in which their exhibits were handled by your Department. I feel sure that the splendid work you did for the Show and particularly the live interest you took in the Night Carnival and Procession, will have its indirect value to the Railway Department.
It has been evident to us of late years that your Department has created a policy of working in with the people and looking for business from a cooperative point of view, apart from adhering to strictly official methods, and to my mind this has been of direct value to the Railway. Our Show is a very big concern, and the co-operation we have received from the officers stationed in Dannevirke has done much to bring about the feeling that the Railway Department is out to serve the people.
These are days of heavy organisation, and all must be prepared to prove that one body depends on the willing help of the others.
* * *
From the Director, Ellis & Burnand Ltd., Hamilton, to the Stationmaster, Otahuhu:—
We wish to express our thanks to you for the courtesy shown and assistance given to our Mr. R. K. Dey by yourself and staff while handling timber at your yards, Otahuhu.
We may say that the assistance given to our representative is very much appreciated and assisted us considerably in having the work carried out with the least possible inconvenience.
* * *
From Mr. George Day, Miramar, Wellington, to the General Manager of Railways, Wellington:—
I desire to express my thanks to the Stationmaster, Thorndon, and his Foreman, for the courtesy and kindness they extended to an aged invalid passenger who arrived at Thorndon station recently. Through their care the ordeal of transfer from train to ambulance was considerably minimised, and that which seemed most difficult was thus made easy.
* * *
From the Hon. Secretary, New Zealand Utility Poultry Club, Christchurch, to the Stationmaster, Christchurch:—
On behalf of the members of this Club I would like to express my thanks and appreciation of the expeditious manner in which your staff at Christchurch and Papanui handled the many crates of poultry consigned to our Egg Laying Test at Papanui.
In addition to receiving many crates of live poultry, the Club also returned by rail many crates of birds that had completed their test.
The fact that all birds arrived promptly and in good order certainly warrants the thanks and appreciation of this Club.
In view of the impending introduction of the Inset Ticket system on the New Zealand Railways, the following planatory particulars have been supplied by Insets (New Zealand) Ltd., for the information of readers of the “New Zealand Railways Magasine.”
Examining Inset Tickets.
About the middle of October there will be notices placed in a conspicuous position, near the ticket office, in all the main stations and main country stations throughout New Zealand which will be worded as follows:—
“Please Look Inside Your New Ticket.”
This will notify passengers of the Mones-Cross ticket. Each ticket will have on top the word “Pull” and will contain an advertisement on behalf of various well-known manufacturers.
This ticket bears the name of its inventor, and it might be of interest to your readers to know that it took three years to perfect the machinery that manufactures the tickets. Into one end of the principal machine is fed a thin roll of cardboard paper, and after nine successive operations, the finished ticket comes out the other end—with the Inset printed and inserted.
One appealing factor to the advertiser which this machine has, is that it can produce forty-eight tickets simultaneously, each containing a different advertisement—which is a guarantee against an advertiser having his tickets in circulation for only a month or so.
As regards New Zealand, each advertiser has a proportionate amount of tickets issued daily for a period of twelve months. There is no novelty attached to this scheme as the variety of the advertisements always holds the interest of the travelling public. Moreover, the manufacturer can make these Insets of value (such as offering them as a discount, or for prizes, or having some competition.)
For the information of New Zealand firms, it may be said this scheme is now well-established in England. All the tickets issued by the London, Midland and Scottish Railways throughout the country employ the inset ticket principle.
Its advantages as an advertising medium may be summarised as follows:—
1. Curiosity will compel the passenger to pull the Inset, and therefore read the advertisement.
2. The passenger is in a receptive frame of mind at the time of inspection.
3. He has plenty of time to read the advertisement.
4. The advertisement registers in the passenger's mind.
5. It has a solus position as there are no distractions of any kind.
Naturally, these Insets will be passed from hand to hand and commented upon, and incidentally manufacturers using this medium will get that which they pay their good money for—that is that their message will be seen and remembered.
Oing to the circumstances under which it is read, small though the Inset is, its space, proportionate to its value, is as big as a front page in a paper. It is quite possible to put thirty-two words clearly on one side of an Inset, which is sufficient to give the essence of the advertiser's “story.”
The Inset Ticket is an entirely British idea, supported with British capital and British labour.
One of the most interesting of the world's early steam railway locomotives has just been placed on permanent exhibition at Lime Street Station, Liverpool, on the L.M. and S. system. This is the “Lion” locomotive, built in 1838 by Todd, Kitson and Laird, of Leeds, for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
The “Lion” has two cylinders of 14 inches diameter by 18in. stroke, and coupled wheels of 5ft. diameter. The locomotive follows the general design of Robert Stephenson's machines generally employed on the Home railways between 1833 and 1845. Noteworthy features are outside sandwich frames of wood between iron plates, and inner frames of wrought iron carrying crank-axle bearings. The original frames, cylinders, valve and driving gear, wheels and axles, still in good order, remain on the engine, and the “Lion” is understood to be the only remaining locomotive in working order carrying the original cab valve motion.
Inset Ticket Printing Machine
The machine shown above is 45ft. long, and weighs about seven tons. It performs nine different operations successively. On the left, board is fed into the machine, and on the extreme right four tickets, complete with printed inset, are delivered. The output is approximately 50,000 tickets per hour.
When constructed, the “Lion” locomotive was numbered 57. It first served on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, then on the Grand Junction Railway. In 1846 it became “No. 116” of the London and North Western line, and in 1859 the “Lion” was purchased by the Liverpool dock authorities. In 1928 the engine was acquired by the Liverpool Engineering Society, and at the Liverpool and Manchester Centenary celebrations the “Lion” proudly drew an exact replica of a passenger train of 1830 along the exhibition tracks.
In the following article, Mr. W. R. Davidson, formerly Assistant Chief Engineer of the New Zealand Railways, gives an interesting historical sketch of the railways of the Thames Valley, and tells how railway transport has assisted settlement, and the development of industry in that fertile area in the North Island.
The year 1930 saw a comprehensive report by a Royal Commission upon the economic standing of the railways in our national life.
It is interesting to note that exactly fifty years earlier, in the year 1880, just such another Commission was appointed to enquire into the prospects, present and future, of the railways.
These two Commissions had a somewhat different outlook. One dealt with the difficulties and uncertainties of youth with all the future before it, the other with the oppositions and contentions of manhood—albeit still a useful, lusty manhood.
Within the purview of that old Commission came the question of rail access to a great, fertile area known as the Thames Valley, lying between the Waikato watershed on the west, and the high ridges of the Coromandel Peninsula on the north, and embracing those wide tracts of swamps and rich pasture lands known as the Hauraki Plains. Sea and river and a few inadequate roads alone gave access to this land of promise.
The little port of Grahamstown, on the Firth of Thames, drew seaborne traffic from Auckland, while small shallow river-boats penetrated up the Thames River to Paeroa and Te Aroha. Sand banks, and snags, however, made this a hazardous route, strandings lasting a week being of frequent occurrence, and in summer time navigation on the upper reaches became impossible. On the Waikato side river-boats served a very limited area of country, and were totally inadequate for the settlers who were pressing out into the new lands being opened up.
Timber abounded north of Grahamstown, whereas the Waikato had practically none. The Waikato had coal, wattle, and produce, whereas the Grahamstown district had little or none of these commodities. The Thames goldmines were yielding their wealth abundantly, and were calling for supplies of coal, timber, and machinery.
In spite of all these circumstances, the recommendation of that old Commission was very guarded. It supported the construction of three or four miles of railway towards Morrinsville and Cambridge. There was a suggestion at that time that the line to Wellington should pass through Cambridge. It did not support the Grahamstown-Te Aroha railway, it being considered that the water communication between these points was adequate.
In 1880, the Main Trunk line from Auckland had already reached Hamilton, and the iron-work for the great railway bridge across the Waikato River at this point had been ordered from England. This bridge was the railway key for the opening of the Thames Valley from the Waikato. September, 1883, saw the completion of this bridge, but in the meantime
October, 1884, saw the completion and opening of the railway from Hamilton to Morrinsville, and from Ruakura Junction to Cambridge. By March, 1886, the railway between Hamilton and Te Aroha was ready for traffic—ready to serve the pioneers who had pushed into the wilderness in quest of golden harvests, gold of the mountain, gold of the grain, and eventually that wonderful gold of the meadow and milking shed.
In February, 1882, the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Co., Ltd., was formed to construct, under the District Railways Act, 1887, a railway from Morrinsville to the village of Ohinemutu.
The consent of the ratepayers and owners of property to the construction of the Morrinsville to Lichfield section of the proposed line, length 42 miles, was obtained on 13th April, 1883.
In the following year the Government, under the hand of the Colonial Treasurer, Sir Julius Vogel, entered into negotiations with the company for the purchase of this portion of the railway, the chairman of the company being Dr. J. Logan Campbell. After a lengthy correspondence, matters were finally arranged, it being made incumbent on the company to complete the railway to Lichfield before handing it over to the Government.
June, 1886, saw the railway completed for traffic to Putaruru, and by a short branch line from Putaruru to Lichfield.
In advancing the construction towards Rotorua, the earthwork between Putaruru and Ngatira, a distance of eight miles, was very heavy, and steep gradients had to be adopted to surmount the high country. The earthwork at the Rotorua end of the line was set apart for Maori labour, and it is interesting to note that the natives were particularly expert at this class of work.
The Spa, which has been established at Te Aroha, with its valuable medicinal waters, had been attracting to that town many railway travellers over the newly opened line, and it was recognised that the rapidly increasing fame and importance of the Rotorua Thermal district, with its wonders and its healing waters, necessitated rail connection to the outer world at the earliest possible moment.
With the permanent way extended to Ngatira and the foundation work completed six miles out of Rotorua, the construction work came to a temporary halt. The extension beyond Putaruru was useless, as there was no route from Ngatira to Ohinemutu. It was therefore decided to push the construction forward another ten miles to the Okohiriki Saddle, where contact was made with the main road to Rotorua. This extension also opened up one of the best blocks of agricultural land in the district, the property of the Crown, and carrying a large quantity of valuable timber. The