Australasian Reciprocity.

Resulting from discussions at the Australasian Railways Commissioners' Conference recently held in Melbourne, a reciprocal arrangement has been entered into between all Australian railway systems and the New Zealand Railways for a regular interchange of ideas and suggestions which have been approved by any one of the systems and which would likely be of benefit or interest to any of the others. The information is collated and circulated by the Secretary of the Australasian Railways Conferences at Sydney.

As in New Zealand, a Suggestions Board is attached to all the Australian railway systems, and through this valuable medium the ideas and opinions of thousands of railway employees are made available for the betterment of the railways concerned.

A clause in the rules of the Suggestions and Inventions Committee of the New Zealand Railways provides that any invention or suggestion which the Committee considers might be of value to the New Zealand Railways will, if the suggester so desires and after the invention has been protected by patent, be submitted to corresponding Suggestions Boards of the Australian Railways with a view to adoption, and he will receive any awards which may be granted in respect thereof. Other Suggestions Boards have the same provision in their rules governing their operations, and frequently, at the request of those who have made suggestions, proposals are submitted to or received from corresponding Boards of the Australian Railways.

The reciprocal arrangement recently entered upon widens the scope of activities of the various Suggestions Boards and will undoubtedly have a beneficial effect, standardising or making uniform various systems or processes and, in general, introducing the latest ideas for the betterment of railway services.