A Great Service

Replying to the toast of “Valediction” at the Railway Officers' Smoke Concert in Wellington, the Chairman of the Government Railways Board, Mr. H.H. Sterling, who has just resigned from the position of General Manager of Railways to take up that position, said, “Though I have ceased to be literally an ‘officer’ in the Railway service, nevertheless I find a great deal of satisfaction in looking back over my connection with that great service. I do not use the adjective ‘great’ just for the mere sake of saying it; I believe the service is a great one-great in its interests and in what it does for the Dominion.

“This railway system of ours has had a great and glorious past. I do not suppose anyone has ever attempted to controvert the dictum that the railways have made the development of this country possible and have brought it to a state of productive capacity that could not have been achieved without the railways and the service they performed. I was very fortunate in being able to see the other side of the picture. During the period I was out of the service I was at the head of the organisation which is the railway's biggest customer. In that capacity I was one who wanted service, and I am happy to say that I found the Railway Department never let us down.

“The railways have built up a tradition that is difficult to live up to in times of depression. On the one hand everyone wants something from the railways. You cannot produce transport for nothing any more than you can produce boots or anything else for nothing. If someone obtains a service for which he does not pay, someone, else has to pay for it! That is an elementary principle that has been all too often overlooked in the past; and I am not going to say that in some cases the railwaymen have not done some of their paying. I am endeavouring to say that in regard to the past a great standard of service has been set up. Difficulties, however, have ranged themselves against the railway industry. Competition has entered into it that in former days was unknown. In addition to that, anyone acquainted with the business as it is to-day knows how serious we have found the depression that is affecting the world.”