SCIENCE AND TECHNIQUE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 140, 3 September 1927, Page 10

SCIENCE AND TECHNIQUE

ADVANCE IN RUNNING OF RAILWAYS I EVIDENCE OF PROGRESS (From Our Resident Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Friday. “Optimism is everywhere, and optimism, like the roseate glow accompanying the first glimmering streaks of dawn, although not in itself the dayspring of prosperity, is its best and most frequent forerunner.” This picturesque sentence is used editorially by the “Railway Magazine” in recording progress throughout tne Dominion of tne 1924 programme of improvements. In illustration of this it is said that the now familiar automatic signalling posts, with their hooded lights, and making their appearance in new territory. are a sure sign of the advance of science in assisting safe and expeditious handling of trains. Improved time-tables and better rolling stock have made passengers and freighters pleased and contented. Better methods and machinery in workshops have lessened the cost of production. increased efficiency and created better conditions for those engaged in this work. At Auckland everything about the new yards, their size, wealth of siding:;, new control outlet and general evidence of organised activity in modernising the facilities of that important terminal, has favourably impressed primarv producers, industrialists and travellers alike, all. in fact, who recognise in improved transport facilities an important essential toward stimulating production and adding to the general wellbeing of the community. At Wellington threequarters of a mile of sea-wall, through deep water, a structure intended to form the outer boundary of the new station yard reclamation. was commenced in May. 1923. and finished a month or two back, ahead of schedule. The Middleton hump-shunting yard, to facilitate the sorting of South Island merchandise, is practically completed and the electrification of the Lyttelton Tunnel is under way. All these works are among the major visible evidences of railway progress. No less real, however, are the indications of improvement in the nonmaterial things. The organised training of those entering the service, now applicable to all apprentices and cadets, has been developed quite recently. but is already making its advantage felt at stations and in workshops. Graded examinations promise to make clear the way for those possessing the necessary merit to progress to higher positions. A spirit of co-operation is permeating all ranks of the service and assisting toward the effective prosecution of the department’s various business enterprises.