TIME MARCHES ON

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19979, 3 July 1939, Page 13

TIME MARCHES ON

SPEECH-MAKERS LAG MINISTER HANDICAPPED ADDRESS MUCH REDUCED JOCULAR RAILCAR PILOT (Herald Special Reporter). Enthusiasm so inspired some of the speakers at the railway opening ceremony in Wairoa on Saturday that they failed to note the passage of time, and one result was that thq large gathering of the public i heard only one of the two Ministers present at any length. The Horn. D. G. Sullivan, Minister of Railways, .spoke under the handicap of approaching darkness, and he reduced his .speech materially in order to ensure that the last of the day's functions, the unveiling of. the memorial tablet to men who had lost their lives while working on the Line, could be carried out while daylight still lingered. The unveiling function was entrusted to the the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, but Mr. Sullivan made a brief reference to thte “fliartyrs to the cause of progress,”

while replying to the welcoming speeches at local representatives. There would be no question of forgetting those men who had lost their lives while working on the route between Napier and Wairoa, Mr. Sullivan said. They would be remembered by their workmates to tire very end. He personally was glad to have the opportunity of associating himself with Mr. Semple, in paying tribute to their memory. No Alternative It) Railway Referring to remarks made by Sir Apinana Ngata, who had suggested that air developments and other transport media might hurt the rail-

ways even more in the future, the Minister .said that there was little •tear of aviation taking the place of the railways. It was, not a;t all likely that aeroplanes would develop to the point of carrying the huge weight of freight and the enormous number of passengers that the department Handled successfully last year. The Minister .also referred to the jocular remarks of his Ministerial colleague, concerning his (Mr. Sulli- • van's) capability as a driver of railcars. Mr. Semple had confessed that when Mr. Sullivan took the controls to drive the railcar into Wairoa, he had felt much concerned, and his concern had been shared by others in the car. Mr. Sullivan turned the joke on his colleague to the evident relish o 4 the crowd,:, which enjoyed a hearty laugh over ft foe Ministerial repartee. The Minister of Railways, after touching on the development of the railcar as a unit especially suitable for services such as that proposed for Wairoa, joined in congratulating the district on .the attainment of a goal for which /it had striven for many years. The completion of the line as 'far as Wairoa was a magnificent step forward in the development of the country, he said.

Sir Apirana Ngata expressed his thanks to Mr. G. H. Mackley, the general manager of railways, tor the compliment he had paid the Maori people, in naming each of the modern railcar units after one of the principal canoes of the race. Tic suggested that when the department,, in the course of its experiments, produced the perfect railcar, it should be given the name liorouta, which, lie explained, was the name of the canoe from which tile Maoris of the northern East Coast, claimed descent. Something Unique The Minister of Railways, the Ron. D. G. Sullivan, warmly acknowledged the comments of Sir Apirana Ngata and other speakers on the new developments made in railcar construction. He claimed that in New Zealand they had produced something unique in the form of railway service, by the development of this type of vehicle. ’’Done More Than Any Man” The people of the Wairoa and East Coast districts were to have the immediate benefit of those experiments, and their service would be the most I modern to be found anywhere. Sleep- j ers would be added as soon as they

could be produced, he promised the gathering, and everything that the Government, the Minister, and the department could do to give good service, with speed and comfort and safety, would be done. “1 want to introduce to those of you who do not already know him, the general manager of our Railways Department,” Mr. Sullivan added, calling forward on the dais Mr. G. H. Mackley. “He is the man who has done more than any other individual towards bringing the railcar to its present stage of successful development in New Zealand.” The credit given by the Minister to his principal executive officer was warmly endorsed, Mr. Mackley being the recipient of enthusiastic applause from tiie large audience.