The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1927. “OUR EXCELLENT RAILWAYS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 37, 6 May 1927, Page 8

The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1927. “OUR EXCELLENT RAILWAYS”

THOSE who have been inclined occasionally to grumble at apparent defects and deficiencies in railway travel through the Dominion should be comforted by the statement of the official secretary of the New Zealand Railways. It appears that we really possess the best railway system in the world, but do not appreciate the fact. This pleasing assertion is made by Mr. J. S. Hunter, who has just returned to Wellington from a delightful trip to far countries where he filled the onerous role of official observer for his department and acquired much information to gladden the hearts of administrators. He saw everything that was worth seeing. in and about railway service and development in the United States, in Canada, in Great Britain, in the western countries of Europe, and gained such knowledge as to send him home with the firm belief that, for our length of track and small population, we have here in New Zealand a service in advance of actual requirements. This will be a surprise to merchants who repeatedly are exasperated and humbugged by a shortage of trucks. It will be a revelation to those holiday picnickers who sometimes have to be content with travelling in first-class waggons artistically covered with tarpaulin and seated as for children at a kindergarten. Then, there is the question of personal comfort on our de luxe trains as compared with the best long-distance expresses across other countries. Here, again, New Zealanders fail to realise their advantages. For example, the famous Pullman sleeper on North American railways is really not comparable to our own sleeping cars for privacy and comfort. And Mr. Hunter also heard quite a lot of talk abroad in support of the view that the adjustable chairs in the Main Trunk cars have no rivals at all for rest on long journeys. Of course, the necessity for chair adjustment and the apparently endless calls by the guard for still another punch in a passenger’s ticket together help to relieve the tedium of a slow journey from Auckland to Wellington. Well, it is a kindly world that affords surprises these days, and we all ought to be very grateful to the official secretary of our railways department for demonstrating our blessings. But by far the best message Sir. Hunter has brought home in return for the money spent on his trip—and the only message that seems worth the expenditure—is his collected opinion that methods of transport must be made to suit the special conditions existing in various districts. He has learnt that it is extravagance to maintain political railways and run services on them for votes instead of for a reasonable monetary profit. Unfortunately, Mr. Hunter has said nothing about electric train transport. Has that method been abolished overseas? When the Reform Government launched out in hydro-electric development everybody hoped to see quite soon the establishment of fast electric trains on suburban railway tracks to and from the main centres. What is being done about it? Must we adopt the firm belief that electric train services would be in advance of actual requirements ?

THE DEARTH OF ENTERPRISE

THERE is so much talk of “hard times” that the stranger to Auckland might well go about in open-eyed expectancy of seeing the_ evidences of stagnation and starvation in an army of enforced idlers, closed factories and empty shops. There is no such evidence. Well dressed people throng our streets, most manufacturing plants are working full time, the shops appear to be doing a thriving trade, and all seems well with Auckland. But Auckland might be doing better. There is clearly something lacking in her progress industrially. It needs the stimulus of marching music, set to the catchword “Enterprise.” There is a tendency for business, not yet extended in its journey, to rest too often by the roadside, and sometimes to slumber on a full meal of prosperity. The truth is that too many New Zealand business men have prospered too easily, and have not been through that hard school which has trained men elsewhere to meet each arising difficulty with ready resource, to use initiative and to be ever on the alert for enterprise. The American business man, for instance, plans on the way to his office and home again, during his luncheon hour and far into the night. His business is at once his hobby and—his business. Down to the tiniest detail, he improves his system and his plant in every department as opportunity arises. He is never behind; he is often before his time. Many New Zealanders, on the other hand, owe their prosperity more to good luck than to good management. Their fortunes have floated on the flood of general well-being and left them high and dry upon safe ground, without any great effort on their own part. Had they been forced to meet and overcome real adversity early in their careers, they might have developed qualities that would have made them even more prosperous and have benefitted the community in a corresponding degree. An examination of some of Auckland’s industrial concerns will show absurdly high overhead costs, general lack of system, antiquated machinery, and a policy of mark-time. When the tide of their fortunes ebbs ever so little, there is this spineless talk of “hard times” and a reprehensible whining for protection for those who will not, by modern business methods and enterprise, protect themselves. This talk of “hard times” is “the stone that rebounds,” for nothing so quickly tightens money and restricts purchase. When it is fictitious, it is ridiculous. This is the time for business men to as such and spring into the fight with new armour. Let them be up and doing!

“ZELANDIA” BUTTER

IF it be true—and on the evidence it seems so—that Argentine butter is being sold in England under the brand “Zelandia,” it appears to be clearly an attempt to substitute Argentine butter for New Zealand by a very mean subterfuge. The danger is not only that this butter will cut into the sales of the New Zealand product : if it is an inferior product, accepted as that of New Zealand, it will have, ultimately, the effect of reducing the demand for the real article. Immediate action is called for. It is the imperative duty of the New Zealand authorities to cable agents in England in order that the British purchasers may be advised that “Zelandia” is not New Zealand butter, but that the title is merely a trick on the consumer.