I).-—2

XXXV

sufficient to meet the peak loading in 1929 would have meant that at least some of that stock would have been continuously out of traffic right up to the time when that period was reached. Clearly that would not be an economical proposition, and any attempt to arrive at that stage would require a substantial increase in the railway deficit.

The statistics which are dealt with elsewhere in this report show that the efforts of the Department to meet the position with the available rolling-stock were well directed in that we had a more rapid turnover of the wagons. It is in this connection that the users of the railways can do much to help themselves. W$ find in periods of so-called shortage of rolling-stock that wagons are held up at country stations awaiting unloading for periods that very considerably restrict the Department's turnover of its rolling-stock, while the vagaries of the shipping traffic are an ever-recurring difficulty which is practically beyond the control of the Department. Trucks are ordered to load for ships at given times, and the spectacle is not uncommon of having large numbers of trucks under load waiting for ships which