PARLIAMENTARY VISIT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 23, 27 July 1939, Page 11

PARLIAMENTARY VISIT

RAILWAY WORKSHOPS

A party of some 60 members of Parliament, accompanied in several cases by their wives, visited the-'Lower Hutt Railway Workshops this morning. The Minister of Railways (the Hon. D: G Sullivan) and Mr. G. H. Mackley, General Manager of Railways, were among the party, as well as Mr. H. E. Combs, member for the district. The party arrived by special railcar, which took them into the tyorkshops yard, where they were met by the manager of the workshops, Mr. W. D. 6urton, who was host to the company at morning tea in the social hall, after which the members were divided into parties of about eight, and, under guidance of members of the staff, made a complete tour of the various departments. Members expressed astonishment at the size of the shops, the varied nature of the work, and the complexity of the up-to-date machinery in use. They saw in operation for the first time the Sessci plant for the utilisation of scrap metal. This plant is under the charge of M. Faasote, of Belgium, an expert sent out by the makers to superintend its erection. M. Faasote explained that the plan would enable the scrap metal, which at one time was exported largely to Japan, to be utilised in the Dominion. The plant cost £29,700 and will effect a saving to the Railway Department of about £14.000 a year. The party returned to Wellington by railcar shortly after midday.