THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1202, 10 August 1911, Page 5

THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

GRIEVANCES AND REPLIES. The Minister for Railways, in reply to Mr. Wilford, states_ that Sunday duty in the Railway Department is paid for at rate and a half, and, as far as possible, is treated by'itself. With respect to' broken time, it is not the practice of the Department to break time where it can 'bo avoided. Where, however, a limited number of trains arc run over a given period,, and thero is no necessity for tho men on duty to remain at work continuously, us in the caso of Sunday services on port lines, they are booked off bftween trains, but are paid at timo and a half with a minimum of half a day. With respect to the timo between twelve o'clock Saturday night and twelve o'clock Sunday night, whore the men are on duty after twelve o'clock on Saturday nigbt to finish up their week's wcrk, ordinary rate is paid, v and tho timo is counted as part ot tho week just closing. Where nien are booked out before twelve o'clock on Sunday night to commence- afresh run, they are paid at Sunday rates. Further questions by the same member wero. answered by the Minister to-tho following effect:—

Taking the railway service as a whole the number of cases that occur in which a man does not g»t the full eight hours oil duty are very few, and such cases as do occur result from exceptional circumstances. The Department is desirous that the members of its staff should have a proper interval of rest,, and every effort is made in that direction.

As far as practicable the hours of porters and shunters are limited to fortyeight hours per week, where tho duties are continuous. Where the circumstances necessitate longer hours being worked to meet emergencies, timo off is subsequently given: at -the convenience of the Department, and the' Minister_ cannot sco his way to make any alteration in this practice. Where the work is intermittent, forty eight-hours does not apply. The question of the employment of . porters for shunting has been engaging attention, and information is being -obtained. The weekly passes, formerly granted to the wives of members of the service, living in isolated places, were withdrawn, becauso it was considered that the circumstances in country districts connected with the railway system had undergone a material change- since the regulation under which freo passes granted to the wives'and "housekeepers of Railwaymen were'originally issued, and, furthermore, because the privileges in respect to members of tho railway staff travelling at nominal rates had been widely extended. In reply to Mr. Massey, who asked tho. Minister whether he would make alterations to bring the salaries of locomotive men on the New Zealand railways into lino with the salaries paid for similar services in the Australian States, tho Minister stated: "It is my intention to shortly submit proposals for amending tho rates of pay of certain grades of tho railway service. Any alterations made in the direction- indicated in the question would also involvo the adoption of precisely the same conditions as aro ruling on the Australian 'railways, and I question very much whether these would bo to the ad-! vantage of the general body of railwaymen."

Mr. Russell asked tho Minister . for Railways whether ho would at an early date indicate how he proposed to allot tho ;Esft,ooo lis intends to sot aside as an increase to the wages of employees in tho railway servico; and, also, how much, of the sum stated would be required for increases provided under railway classification.

Minister said tho matter was now engaging his attention. As soon as his propcsals were completed, lis would introduce tho Hill to sivc effect to same. "Tho .£50,000," ho added, "is in addition to the statutory increases provided under tho Classification Act. although certain statements from ill-informed persons have, been mado to the contrary." In'roriy to Mr. Malcolm, the Minister said the DS list was in course of preparation,, and would bo completed as scon as passible. The Hon. J. A. Millar did not attempt to deal in detail with tho thirty-five questions that had boon put in reference to railway matters. ITe remarked that very large increases in expenditure had been advocated, some of them by members of tho Opposition who were continiiallv raising a cry about increasing expenditure. He agreed with flic suggestion by some members that the wages paid in the lower branches of the service should ho increased if possible and quoted from a number of returns with ,i view (o rebutting Hie statement of the member for Wellington Central, that the Government had done nothing to better the position .of the lower-paid men in its servico.