The Iron Horse

NZ Truth, Issue 1146, 17 November 1927, Page 6

The Iron Horse

IT was not until the petrol wagon as a means of transit loomed up on

the horizon as a severe and worthy opposition to N.Z. railways that the Government opened its eyes to the fact that 'something must be done.

That "something" took the form of a new branch of the department which glorifies m the imposing appellation— the commercial branch. ,

To bean officer of this section of the railway administration staff — there are but a handful — demands a combination of ability and personality that labels tn*em "The Chosen Few."

The name of Arthur Wansey Wellsted has figured on the pay-roll of the Railway I)epartment for the last 25 years. It is not his fault that every freight train m the Auckland district, for which he is commercial manager* does not require the haulage of two locomotives. . '

In eloquent parlance A.W.W. pours forth the virtues and advantages of the iron horse to such fastidious bodies as chambers of* commerce' and farmers' unions. ■-..■;-'

It is not altogether Wellsted's fluency m his addresses that gains for him — - and his .department — the confidence of farmer,' merchant and tradesman; it is contributed . to by his blithesome manner of discourse and his amicable methods of doing business. With a l sense of humor that can almost make smiles out of suicides and merriment m morgues, his company is as good as a tonic.