RAILWAY FERMENT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1114, 29 April 1911, Page 3

RAILWAY FERMENT.

Sir,—ln your i.-sue of April 8 1 am. somewhat severely taken to tail; by olio "Searchlight" for daring lo express my views upon the question of the wholesale condemnation of the .Minister for Unilways, and also the railway management, upon the grounds of alleged grievances, as to which only one side is presented to the public.

1 am not (o be perturbed by any exhibition of that well-known characteristic of the railway employee which finds cxpresiion in pei>onal abuse in preference lo sound argument, nor should I have troubled to reply had not "Searchlight" put forward a challenge as to what he is prepared to do if 1 again enter tho field. I am ready to meet my challenger upon any railway subject he may suggest, and will deal with the same upon fair and square lines, not. at all with a view to opposing tho demands of the men, but merely to show the utter absurdity of the effort being made to pose our railway service, as a little hell upon earth, and the employees as martyrs. 'i'ho Minister represents the public, and when his actions and his personal character are unjustly assailed, and when we have a strong combination of both officers- and men attempting to bring about the political downfall of the Minister (and of the Government, too, if they can) as ti means lo wrenching their demands from the public, it is only failthat a reasonable explanation should be given upon the various matters in which the.Minister is concerned. 1 do not proposy to deal further just now with regard to the alleged attempt of the combination of the Officers' Institute and Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants at Dunedin. to work for the political downfall of the Hon. Mr. Millar, but am prcpar- s ed to throw a very lurid light upon the matter should occasion offer. Likewise, 1 do not object to Tin: Dominion dealing with the question of railway grievance upon fair lines, ami my original complaint was, as to the questionable policy, in my own mind, of a newspaper unduly exciting the public and apparently assisting tho men in their attitude of disi-especU to the Minister, and the loustituted authority of llin railway service. It must be admitted I lint a newspaper exercises an enormous influence over the public, mind. The Dominion is a powerful paper, 1 am bound to admit, in spite of those who may turn up their nose at it, or think it cait be snuffed out. 1 may not necessarily be in sympathy with its. politics.' but as a reader of every copy since its inception honestly admit, that it has been the means of broadening my views upon a vast number of subjects, (live me a straight-out paper like 'I'm: Dominion every time, rather than a newspaper which, whilst supporting a Government on the one hand, admits of its editorial staff engaging en another journal which, month by'month, is damning the Government and' inciting thousands of the public servants to rebel against tho Minister of their Department, as a means of forcing his hand in matters upon which lie is responsible to the public and to the State.

There are many phases of the railway question in which the public have bcoi> badly misled by the press. I will openly admit that the public press is not altogether to blame, because it has taken its cue from the railway newspapers, which it should lmva every reason to deem correct and authentic. I am thankful to hearclilight," for suggesting (he question ol Hallway Appeal Board, and will later on (leal exhaustively with that matter in support of my contention that the public is being grossly misled bv the railway papers, and the public press, both as regards the position of the Minister and the railway management thereto. The a"»r"Searchlight" to---'thg"oflcct That tho irresponsible members" of the Railway Appeal Board would, if given on opportunity, make a much better job of th» railway administration than the Mini-ter is doing, is best realised when 1 shite that the management has no seal upon the hoard, but that, in the case of the appeal ol a porter, the board consists nf a guard, an ordinary clerk, and a judicial'v magistrate with no practical ■knowledge ol railway work. The guard and the clerk in such a case would bo the "irreS? 1 '* 1 '!'?. railway employees indicated bv Searchlight -that is, employees not responsible lor the efficiency of'thc service nor for the safely of the public,, in I he samo light as is the Minister for Railways and llio oxceulivu management. His intliecleiv who have been elected on,tho hallway Appeal Board are hotter able to administer the railways .than the Hon; ■•>• . A. Millar, may possibly be .-, sample ot. tho idiotic gush' permeat! in? the opinions ol a section of th» railway employees but is not likely* to! whit7 P VT- n ° f t . h °- morc sensibl ° P«Wic 10 tako >™r "<ats in our railway trains Likewise the assertion that'the New Zeai land railwayman is thought a lot of in other countries, is not borne out bv tho opinions expressed by railway experts beyond our seas, who contend that tho Si em of classification adopted here, and hch merely presents the men in ~„. inercal order for promotion, irrespective n4l„i y "'r 1 P T OMI can only produce mediocrity. J ".Searchlight's" 'remarks anent uniform merely bear out my contention, that it is not unreasonable that the Minister should deeh„ o , 0 put ~, to »m« tonal expense of providing free clothes in a direction not necessary in the cir cumstancos. ' He merely proves that whilst n the primitive stago of a goods-shed hand, the■ employeo wears his ordinary clothes, and winch condition continues for L ™ l fl i' S i 1 ' S B radu «"y learning his work; but, that as soon as he is clashed as a passenger iiorter, a shunter, or guard e gets his uniform. His concluding arBiiment,. to the effect that "enginemcu i.ne enised to accept signals from men n mufti in shi.nting yards, owing to their inability to discriminate, between them and trespasser:,'* is really a delightful piece ot .areasm. Any driver finding hi,"! in nn!i,', S t"i "" lm 'H I»-cdicamont could ■i kinf '', K ?'T f /' om llis WBlit bv ■isKing the head shunter who is who 'r was amused (he other day by a much more forcible and up-to-date reason why all railway employees should, without exception, have uniforms, and that was lint m the absence of uniform the public experienced great difficulty in the dis. (ribution ol tips. Thereby hangs a "laic"" As regards the abolition of "stores ??*'*?,'. ."'J' challenger, after slating that alleeted aro infinitely better oft' than the *■ tiers in the baek-bloeks" n*ks "\Vlnl akes the settler to the back-blocks? Is he not there of his own free will ( 0 enfeK to innko a home for himself and n,' V -If; a railwayman go of his ow tree will.-' Ao but at tho command ot his employer." 1 contend, Mr. Editor position, .he employer of a railwayman is the public, and tho public owns a railway system that has certain positions open to ho taken bv sue h as may elect of their own free will to jo™ the railway service. The conditions of employment aro that every employee must bo prepared to live at such place and perform such duties as may be allotted to him by the management on behalf of the public. Kverv rail way employee is as much at liberty' to leave the service if he does not like its conditions as the back-blocks settler is at liberty to give up farming The backblocks settler would like to get near a railway, but how many can do so? A'ery few, indeed; and let any sensible mail realise the hardships of the back-block settler who has to pack his goods miles and miles to a railway station, even if there is one. And when he gets there has ho not to pay full fare by rail? Tako the railwayman located at an "isolated place," as it is called. Ho is, say, a platelayer, gelling his eight shillings a day, and regularly paid every month, irrespective of any of the thousand disabilities of the settler. lie has a house at a very cheap rent, and very often no rent to pay at all, in return for odd duties he may elect le perform. He has abundant ground in which ho grows all his vegetables: he keeps poultry, pigs, and a cow. and has often the opportunity to run cattle upon very good terms.. Ho is a permanent service man, looking forward to absolu'ely continuous'employment all his life, so long as lie conducts himself becomingly, and at the age of sixlv years to retire unon a pension, for which he has paid so little in proportion to the, benefits lie .will receive, that it

requires .C25.0D0 to be paid into the fund every year from t lie puulic purse to mako up me shortage in premiums paid by tilts members, lie can always get old sleepers for nothing, or next to nothing, lrjucii reduces ins firing bill to practically nil. ile gels a holiday evsry year and a free pass, to go anywhere lie hl;es for himself, his wife, and children. He can Ret all his bread, butter, milk, meat, vegetables, and such like brought to him free of raih.se as often as lie like.., and as niueh as he likes. Compare his position with Uio man living in our great cities. There aro thousands in Wellington who would jump at his chance. And because ho is asked to pay for a railway ticket at onefourth the rale charged to the public which, as 1 have shown, conies to Id. for .n sevciilcen-milc ride, or twentytwo miles for Gd., it is deemed fair game to damn the Minister in every direction, and to smother him with contempt. When these, men had the free pass, why were (hey not satisfied with a fair estimate of what was to bo deemed an "isolated place." instead of everlastingly trying to include first one place and then another within flic category, until it got so unbearable that the .Minister might just as well say: "There you are, railway employees, take the whole railways and travel free when and where you like." It is the old, old game of killing tho goose that lays the golden egg. "Searchlight" asks: Can I mention any cases wherein tho "stores pass" has been abused? The whole question of the privileges extended to the. employees in this direction is permeated with abuse. Why, when the up-country members were allowed to get their provisions free of railage from any place they liked, there were numbers of cases in which the members, after running up accounts with local storekeepers, not only transferred their custom to places further along the line, but actually got goods up from tiio cities and larger towns and retailed them among their acquaintances at a less rate than the storekeepers could sell. It was the protest of large numbers of up-country storekeepers to tho Department that led to the regulation being amended in the diiection of limiting the store privilege to the'nearest station only contiguous to a More. Cases were discovered where members of the service actually took whole carcasses of sheep and quarters of bref to their up-country residences and retailed if, to the disadvantage of local butchers in their own towns. I can assure you, Mr. Editor, the Department has niueh to put up with in managing so largo a body of men, and the side placed before the public is mostly that which fails to represent the true facts. 1 will ileal with the questions raised by "Searchlight" affecting hours of labour, and the svstrm of punishments in. due course, and whilst I am preparing my copy as to rnilwav appeal boards and the right of Ministerial Veto as a necessary precaution when the discipline of the service and the public safety are at stake, would suggest that my challenger should indicate various, other railway topics ho wculd like the public to be enlightened upon.-I am, etc.,