The Board's Message.
Railway Opportunities.

With a programme of improvements in hand which, for its fulfilment, must extend over several years, the Railways are not yet in a position to produce the best return from the outlay already made on the incomplete portions of that programme, but the Board sees reason for considering that opportunity lies open for an improvement in the operating figures now being obtained, if public support and staff assistance be given in sufficient measure.

In the matter of staff assistance the Board desires to make public acknowledgment of its appreciation regarding the motion, passed at the recent Conference of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, in which it was decided to recommend to members that they should personally support the Railways by using the trains for their own travel in preference to privately-owned buses. This decision indicates a recognition by the Society of the economic dependence of its members on the successful issue of railway operations, and an acknowledgment of their capacity to assist in increasing those resources from which alone improved conditions for themselves may be obtained.

It lies within the power of every member of the Department to make and take opportunities for improving the service they render individually, as well as to put forward proposals for improvements likely to react beneficially upon the Department's finances.

Apart from the larger experiments in methods and operations that present transport conditions require, there are many opportunities, small in themselves, which, if taken in the aggregate, can materially help the Department.

Among these, the exercise of studied economy in the use of stores and equipment, and particularly, the prevention of deterioration to plant, goods, etc., by careful storing, stowing and handling, offers considerable scope for concerted effort. Comparative figures are a great help in enabling officers responsible for the issue and allocation of stores to check up their use in relation to the actual requirements in the case of any given commodity, as between one period and another. Apart from general instructions relating to this matter, it is suggested that those responsible for the issue and allocation of stores might devise methods (to suit their particular circumstances) to reduce by good management their present costs in this direction, and by careful analysis of related figures, be in a position to check any tendency towards waste or extravagance.

There are so many points of difference between one station, depot, or workshop and another, that detailed methods of carrying out this idea are best left to the judgment of individual officers and leading hands, but the Board is sure that, entered into with the right spirit, even if only by saving “a penny a time”, a substantial reduction in stores expenses may be effected in the coming year, without any detriment to the efficiency of the services rendered.

Then there are opportunities for influencing public opinion in favour of the Railways, opportunities which come the way of every employee, and which are even worth going out of one's way to make. Much of the suburban passenger drift from the Railways to the competing motor buses is by people to whom the respective services are practically on a par. Among these a word in season by railwaymen who have the welfare of the service at heart may reclaim many to the trains. Others among the travelling public are not aware of the advantages which the various types of concession tickets confer on train passengers, and these may be won to the rail in the course of conversation by any railwayman who knows (as he has opportunity of knowing) the facts about such types of tickets as trip-bearer, family, apprentice, season, etc.

Similar opportunities occur in relation to goods traffic, instance after instance being revealed of consignors forwarding by motor truck and paying much higher for the service than would have been necessary by rail, through want of knowledge or advice regarding the railway tariff.

Along these lines much may be accomplished, by the active participation of the staff, to reduce expenses and increase traffic.

The strength of a man's virtues must not be measured by his occasional efforts, but by his ordinary life.

Pascal.

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