N.Z. RAILWAYS MANAGER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 88, 21 April 1913, Page 6

N.Z. RAILWAYS MANAGER.

THE NEW APPOINTEE. Referring to the appointment of Mr E. H. Hiley as General Manager of the New Zealand Railways, the “Press” says: The Northern Railway has an extensive territory extending through Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland, with outposts in Westmoreland and Cumberland, and is fortunate in having the district to j itself. With it is amalgamated the oldest public railway in the world, the famous Stockton and Darlington, incorporated in 1821, opened in 1825, and amalgamated with the NorthEastern in 1863. The North-Eastern

was incorporated in 1854. It radiates from York as a centre, but Newcastle, where Mr Hiley has his headquarters, possesses the largest station on the railway. It has fifteen platforms, with a total length of 3400 yards, and the covered'‘iafea of the station measures 32,000 square yards. The North-Eastern is far from being the largest and ■wealthiest railway company in'the United Kingdom, but the whole State railway system in New Zealand will seem a comparatively small affair compared with that with which Mr Hiley has been connected. The- capital of the NorthEastern Company is close on £80,000,000, or more than two and a half times

that invested in the. New Zealand railways. The length of the New Zealand lines open is about 2800 miles, while the mileage of the North-East-ern railway is 1698 miles. The latter, 1 'however, includes a much larger extent of double linos than New Zealand, and even; some three-line and four-line lengths, so that the total mileage equivalent of single track is 4682 miles. The North-Eastern ha„s a larger tonnage of mineral and coal traffic than any other railway in the Kingdom. It has also the distinction of the fastest run without a stop in the British Isles, namely the 1.8 pjrl. train from Darlington to York, 44 miles 3 chains, in 43 minutes, equal to 61.53 miles per hour. In physical configuration the district served by the North-Eastern railway is sufficiently like that of New Zealand to make the experience which Mr Hiley has gained at Home valuable to him here. There are many steep gradients to be negotiated, there are many important bridges and Viaducts, and the longest tunnel —the Bramhope, between Leeds and Harrogate—is 2 miles 225 yards in length. On the- mineral lines in the

county of Durham there are steep inclines like that at Westport,- either self-acting or worked by stationary engines. The Englby lino x-ises 500 feet in 1000 yards. It is the width of activity and enterprise of the North-Eastern railway, however, which makes it an especially valuable training - ground for a position like that of General Maihagcr of the New Zealand railways.. It owns docks and hotels, it has large locomotive works and waggon works, and is .interested dn lines of steamers running between Hull and Holland, and elsewhere. There is every reason to believe that NoWvZealaud - has secured the service's of a-in an 'w!loh a s ha d fine opportunities for gaining valuable experience and whose rapid in so to a position of importance (ho is only fortythree years of age) is in itself evidence of ability. —r ~ „