THE RAILWAYS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 211, 31 May 1919, Page 7

THE RAILWAYS

.———-♦ FAREWELL TO MR. HILEY rl l ■. ______ IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SERVICE A FEW NEEDS A: representative gathering ol ! Hie •railway servants in Wellington, with distriol; officers of tho Department from allover New Zealand, met in Iho. railway head offices last evening, to Jiid farewell .lo Mr. E. }|. .Hiley', late General Manager of Hnilways. The form of entpvtiiinujent was a smoka cojicert.. Sir. It.-"\V. Al'Villy, the new Geriernl .Manager,. w,i.s in the chair..Ministers of the sent were Sir James Allen {Acting-Prune Alinister), the Hon. W. H. Herries (Minister of •Pnilways), Sir William Frasor(Minister of Pub'lic Works);-the Ilou. AV. D. S. Mac Donald (Minister: of Agriculture.),' and the Hon.' A. M, Myers (Minister of Customs). '•■■■■ "Our Guest." The chairmau proposed the toast of "Our Guest." Ho was glad, he snid, to see such a large body of railway, men■ gathered to do honour to their late chief, Mr. Hiley. In the. years since 1913, Mr. Hiley had controlled the- Jlooartimmt ..through most strenuous times. His office had been.by no means a sinecure. The war had made it necessary l'or. the, Department .to. release its young wen for active Bc-r'rico.-- The difficulty. thus presented Was a prodigious one, but Mr. Hiley, had "taken-hold" at onre. and lie had kept hold until.the end. Those: who had had.the privilege, of knowing. Mr. ■Hiley well had learned to know'him as a chief to be. respected, a man kind of heart, a raian anxious to uplift" and encoiirage- in., their legitimate, aspirations all grades of'railway men. ' Ho tad carried on in Bpite of"much ill-roport. Misstatements had beenjnado, corrected, and. repcaM ngain and~again with malignity, but Mr. Hiley held on steadfastly and did his dirty. He (Mr. M'Villy) personally regretted very much' Mr. Hiley's departure. Mr. Hiley known throughout the service as a Tunaly and considerate chief, and one anxious si.ae timd to see the ■ New "Zealand railways fulfil the high destiny which, was theirs. The Hon.-AV. H. Herriee (Minister of Railways) presented Mr. Hiley with threo albums of .New Zenland views, and men. tioned also a writing cabinet of New Zealand ■woods—the whole a farewell gift from, tho.-railway service, Mr. Herries said ■ that he was sure there was not a man in the New Zealand Railway service who would not regret the departure of Mr. Hiley. (Applause.) He knew that Mr. Hiley had done an enormous amount of good in promoting good-will' between the headoffice- and the rank and file of the service. •' He did not believe that any. other man could have done better for New Zealand in the strenuous times of war than had Mr. Hiley. - Ho wished Hr. Hiley and Mrs. Hiley a.pleasant voyage Home, and good fortune in the. Horn eland. If they should ever .visit New. Zealand again he -was .sure every" railwayman -would give them a "cordial reception,' '(Applause.) • Mr; Hiley's. Response,. Mr. Hiley was received with' prolonged applause and- cheering when lie stood to respond. Ho said that he could not tell how keenly he appreciated the honour done him. Hβ had no idea that any such' gathering was being arranged, or that he was'to receive such a splendid presentation. It was a source of great satisfaction at the end of.hiA six years' service that they could meet in this informal and happy fashion. He took it as'an assurance'of the.belief of the service , , that ho had"been, fair and humane iti'his attitude , to the .service, and that he Jiatl been at. one with, them in the general desire to better the lot of railway servants, and to improve the service. He took it that the gathering was an indication of mutual confidence and respect, ak between the staff and the management. Tl* six years of. his regime had been times'..of stress'and (rial, and-he.thought the.railwa.ynien of New Zalaud were entitled'.to take some credit for having carried on the transport business of the Dominion without interruption and without, imperilling .the trade of the Dominion, which was fio essential to l.he good of the Umpire. It was triic that passenger.services had had to be restricted,, but ..he believed that the bulk of the public realised,that this was necessary because of short staffs and of the need for conserving coal and material.' When war. requirements became acute it became necessary' for (he Department to , liberate o'very ninn possible for service. He believed that at some future time the ■Department.'would be given credit for having sent abroad every tit single man' from the service. In all 7000 trained railwaymeu had.' gone—practicallv 40 per cent, of the trained steif. Without the co-operation of the staff, (his could never have been done., and he claimed no specinl*credit for the management for having carried on with-a. diminished-stall'.

Requirements of the Future, But the Department had been pressed lo its limits to keep the.trade of the country going, and he would urge the Government to give the Department the facilities it must have if it was to deal not , only with fliejiresent trade .of NewZealand but. with the trado as-it must ■develop- in the future. . Be would not bo doing his duty to the , management and the (staff, or to the Dominion, if he did not etress the importance of a vigorous forward .policy in regard lo'railway .improvements. The .1914 programme of improvements subjnitted by the.management remained .practically untouched. No iiavt.of-.tho scheme had been completed. Had he supposed for a.moment that the -Government and the people.would "digest." a. larger proposal than (ho expenditure of 3}' 'millions, he would have suggested Hie expenditure of much more money, because morn was required. That programme. should havo been completed ore this, and another larger programme embarked upon. Five years of valuable time had been lost, no doubt.inevitably, i-'o pure «s .anything .could be. New Zealand would go. through a period of rapid expansion, and the railways had no niareii) to deal with additional busi-. ness. Unless, the Government was prepared lo go on. and push through the 1014"programme, and the later programme to follow it, the railways would reiar.de progress rather than aid it. If the railways should fail at any time the Geiieral Manager of'the day would bo charged' with inefficiency, because a. service which touched so closely the comforfc and pocket'of *the people could not escape criticism. The liailway Department was often "The Whippling Boy*'-to the Government, of the day. But the Railway Department would not be to blame if things went wrong Iwcause of lack of development work so necessary. .In. addition to tho IUI4 programme many things were necessary if the railways wei'o not to be allowed to become morn out of date and more unable to deal wjth tho' business to oft'er. Tako the VVollington-Johnsonville-T'aekakariki lino as an example:' That lino should never bo allowed to remain as part of the main line with its present grades. Duplications would havo to be mado in tho neighbourhood of chief contros to inako' possible the (reparation of suburban and main lino traffic. Tho suburban linos would havo to be electrified to inako possible the rapid carriage of passengers in comfort through tunnels. Thn liimuIflka roulo wa c . an absolute anachronism. It was impossible for the Department lo carry the tmilio offenng from Hawkn's Hav' and Wairarapa on that line, with its grade of one in fourteen with curves. He urged tho Government to havo tho deviation routes surveyed at once. Tlioro were shortages, also, of modern engines and cars, and these, must be obtained. Perhaps most important of all. was u .policy of bridge strengthening, to provide bridges that would carry, modern unRines. Mel Fit for Their Jobs, Tie apologised for'mentioning all Iheso business concerns at a social gathering, but his interest in the New Zealand railways had not. ceased on his rotiremimt on April 30. Ho was anxious to assist Ihe now General Manager in tho Insks which ho would havo to face. From what ho had fcemi of Ihn-filaff he know that, given tho material they needed, tho elnflf would bo competent-.to carry, on the business of Iho railways, as well as Iho business of any.railway he had goon was Harried on. In this connection the, new General :Manager proposed to look out for'thp promising young men- of tho seri vice.-and to eoncl eome o£. them Home to

study the problems of denser railway Irnfli'c I here presented. If ho were in Knglaml when any New Zealand railway men camo to study management problems there, lie would esteem it an honour and a privilege to assist in making arrangements with the railway companies fu givo Iliem positions suitable. Ho thanked, the railwnynien of New Zealand for their rectpl'ion and for their gifts. Tasks of Parliament. •The toast of the Parliament of New Zealand was proposed by Mr. N. Bu.xton. The toast was coupled with tho names nf Sir .Tames Allen and thu Hon.\\Y. D. iv '■ Mat-Donald. . . . \ Sir James Allen, who was received with cheers, Raid Unit ho believed that ilip. Parliament of New Zealand had dono what the people of New Zealand wished it to do. New Zealand had done its part nobly, but the Parliament would never have been able to carry on through its "1911 programme" without the support of the people. Tho "VM programme" or tho Government; was not yet to bo disclosed, bul: ho believed that the .Piirliu-niont-of this country had -before it moro difficult, tasks than had eror been faced by a Pndjament in this country. Whatever Government might be returned io power, the people, ho believed, required of them that they should bo. strong men, single-minded in thW desire to <lo tho best for New choosing tho path which might; seem to them' the right path, and sticking to it unswervingly. The New Zealand Parliament had no doubt made mistakes, but they had. seen the'war through, and generally, I'o thought, they had seen it through with credit. Ho referred (o the railwaymen who had gono to tho front, thanking tlio management and tho staff for their loyalty and assistance. As to the railways:ho thought no ■ Government could afford to disregard the warning given to them by Mr. .Hiley as to' tlio requirements of tho railways. New.Zealand had taken upori'itself 'a lingo "load of debt, and if could pay that debt only by developing trado. The railways were the main organisation by-which the trade could bo carried, and the Government must keep the railways -.efficient. ' He wished Mi-. M'Villy and the staff success and' prosperity, and he wished Mr. Hiley'a pleasant'voyage Homo and a good time when he gets there.

The Hon. W. T). S. ■ JfacDonold said that always in-this country there had. been connected with Parliament and Government, good inert , , and there had been always in tho country good men who hiid blazed tho trail and done the spsde work, opening the ...way to the prosperity of this country to-dpy. Hβ .spoke of the representation of New Zealand at: tho Peace Conference, expressing his opinion that the two party leaders had done worthy work at the Conference in looking to the interests of New Zealand, whose whole future depended on the peace of the Pacific. Ho congratulated Mr. Hiioy on- the leave-taking good wishes offered to him by the staff 6f the railway Department £-nd offered alsb his own good wishes". The Minister. - Mr. D. W. MitcLean, gave the toast of "The Minister of Railways."" The Hon. -W. H. Hen-lee, responding, said that he had discovered that the life of a Minister ot .Railways was .not "all beer and skittles." Hβ had fully-under-stood the need for the -1914 programme submitted by Mr. Hiley;"but he had feared the difficulties of getting it through the House. But for the war that programme -would have..gone- through. Other toasts honoured wero:—"]R ail way Members of the ■ New Zealnnd Expeditionary Forces/' "Staff of the New Zealand ' "Railways," "The Retired With Honours List!" "District .Officers," "The Chairman." and "The Press." An excellent .'entertainment , was provided. ..'.-•■■