RAILWAY SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1985, 16 February 1914, Page 6

RAILWAY SERVICE.

NEW CONDITIONS. MR. HILEY AND THE STAFF; > A SUGGESTION BOARD. There was a large gathering at the banquet given by the; Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, in the Marine. Institute rooms on Saturday night, to celebrate the opening of tho -society's new head offices..' 'Mr.-AW T. Wilson' (president), was in tho chair, and there were present Sir Joseph Ward, Messrs. E. H. Hiley (General Manager. of-,Railways), T. Ronayne'(past General Manager), R. W. M'Villy (chief clerk;, H. Buxton (chief traffic manager), H. . ~.:,-Ja'cksoii (chief mechanical engineer)) A. ■Burnetii (chief engineer), i\l. Myers '.-' :' (the - society's solicitor), A. M'Kay .\ (architect for the new building); J. AVatt (builder), and about sixty others, giving, a representation-from Auckland to the Bluff. . The chairman pointed but that the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. W.F. Massey) and the Minister of Railways (tho Hon. W. H. Herries) had.written expressing regret that they were unable to attend, owing to Departmental business calling them away. ■■■ ". The toast of, "Parliament' , was,proposed by-the president, who said' that he was in the position that lie could not talk politics..; He appreciated Sir Joseph Ward's: action in at great inconvenience to himself, as ho had had to rearrange his southern tour. :'., Sir 'Joseph Ward ha'd always shown ' great interest in the-society; and, when Minister of did everything hecould to assist them.- Proceeding,, the president had a word to say about full civil and. political rights; and he held that' wero they granted to the railwaymen, many good politicians would arise. Because a-man was a railwayman he ,■ . . should not be debarred from' political rights. (Applause.) When Minister of Railways; Sir' Joseph Ward had displayed great • activity- in α-nrec- ■ . tion with the Superannuation Bill, and 'for this he would be long remembered. ' (Applause.). The. speaker emphasised the courtesy extended by the present Government; in'allowing the society to approach them .on railway matters. Every facility was extended to them to' do 'this -by the present Government,' as 'was the case'in' the"past (Applause.). ' •'■'•' Important Public Service. ' Responding, Sir, Joseph "Ward said he realised.,that the occasion- was', not one ■ for the airing of party politics. He recognised, however, that the society was one of the,most.important in the Pub- ' .; lie Service. They had over 21,000 peoplo in the railways to-day. He had i'orecastcd t tho possibility of the society having over 50,000 employees; When he gave utterance to that prophecy.it was said: "There he is, an optimist again," but, ho now said that before ten. years had parsed they would have that complement; They were passing ■ through.interesting times:in connection . ' wrtlPthe railways,now." He-had beside him the past .manager; Mr. Ronayne; whom'he. hoped would, long enjoy the re3t due to'a public'.servant who had carried out his-duties faithfully.'There was also present Mr. Hiley, the new general,manager,.whom he hoped would Lave a good time in his position. He would have the well-wishos of the entire country.' ■ : -. .-.'. - - . The. superannuation scheme, was .favourably referred to by Sir Joseph Ward, who said that every man "had , in his --" knapsack the. possibility, if he had the ■ ability,' to attain to the highest office in the service. .--',. , In reminiscent mood Sir Joseph Ward referred to the evolution of the railway ( "■ service. In,the' initiatory stages ,tho difficulties had.been .very gr,eat,,'in. 'c'qmj' parison with, ■'■the-.conditions --'to-; day. Remarkable- changes"' had taken place, and .itu.was well ; that the public -/'should'know "of these. New Zealand's, Position Good. In conclusion, Sir Joseph Ward said he* had had the opportunity of seeing other, countries,-but'not one- of the coriritrieYluV had been in had railway tracks and rolling .stock as well looked ! ■ after'as in"New Zealand. i'.He hoped the society would;go on.dpjtlg,as'well as they had done m ithe-paet.vvHe advised them to be'reasonable.in their'demands, but when they* wero convinced of their ..neod,'stick to those:;.demands. (Applause.) - -'.- ': •...;. '•.,.; •;■' Mr. M.' J. Mack (general 'secretary to the society).proposed "The Railways" and^said; that;the Conditions, "between the society- and' the general' manage'.,'ment of the railways were of th'e most - cordial.!/'..The* railwaymen were, loyal to the management and to the public. Re- " garding the evolution of the service he hoped that the timo would come when bona fide dairy produce would change place with racehorses, and be carried for nothing. Mr'.-'Kiley:responded! Hewould leave ■_ Mr.-Ronayne and Mr. M'Villy to deal withV.tho past, he said. With regard to the future^—well, nobody could foretell tho future. . (Laughter.) Thore would be '.alterations. He' -had seen many references, to. reform in tlle'fntufe. • He 'deprecated such' ; a.term/for it im- -. plied'a slur on, tlie.past'railway builders.. .This they-did not deserve. There would be alterations; and improvements, however, for the railways were growing, -and'improvements, were justified now, which could not have been carried out in the past. He" would,ask! the railwaymen to assist those improvements in every way. He-.-kncw they would: (Applause.) He wanted them , :to assist with any -improvements which could ;he : made ' for the convenience.of the public'. He .-was./brily too glad' to hriye suggestions from railwaymen. (Applause.) • Mr, fllley's plan. .One often got most Valuable suggestions from tTiem. -. He intended to circularise tho railwaymen, and initiate' a system which was in operation on one or two railways in Great Britainr-4his would be a "Suggestion Board." He ] : would personally seo every suggestion ; that Was sent in. (Applaus.e) He f did not say he would not 'turn a good t---".- .many .of them down. UMiors would ;, go to a Suggestion' Committee. Ho • also intended to look into any jir.tonts which the men had, and these wciild be : looked at confidentially, mid r.rctcctcd outside the service, to allow the patentee :.. to get full-benefits. (Applause.) He I wanted railwaymen te realise they wero ; ■ dirsctly interested in -the reputation of j the railways, and he hoped tho Scgges- '■'. tion'Board'would have good results, and ', enable improvements to' be introducd. : Suggestions that the committee omsidered .good would be carried out, and the • menWuld be suitably recompensed. Hβ i took'the opportunity of congratulating I the Amalgamated Society on' the build- \ ing they had now come into possession ■ of. ' Nothing but good! could come of , ' the.society. Unionism, :f :t was sano unionism, could only be- for (foorl, i>nd up to the present the society had 'exist--1 eel along sano. lines, and proved they were prepared to stick up to their pledges, against all temptations. (Applause.) It was a thing tho public would not forget, and he could assuro them ■he would not forget it either. (Applause.) ' '' v ; Policy of Reasonableness. Ho advised them, also, to establish a ppliev if reasonableness in their dei v n'aritls. It was not advisable for them • , ' to expend their energies in demands '<"'' ,which).;at'{he:time, would he out of the ! question. Reasonable -demands wo'uld I - get his full consideration. (Applause.)

I Mr. Ronayne and' Mr. M'Villy also spoke to the toast, and others toasts npnoured Solicitor and Auditor," "Kindred Societies," and "Architects arid Builders." A pleasing programme, of musical items was also given. dtiring'Qie evening. LOCOMOTIVE MEN'S WANTS. SAME CONCESSIONS AS DIVISION 1 SOUGHT. (By Teleffraph.-Pro33" Association.) Chrlstchurch, February 15. At a smoke concert Inst night tendered, by the local branch of the Locor motive Engine Drivers', Firemen, and Cleaners' Association to the delegates attending the association's annual conference, reference was made to the new regulations and the alleged injustices under which locomotive men laboured: Mr. Kennedy, president of tho association, in proposing the toast, "Parliament," said that whilst giving members qf Parliament credit for sincerity in what they did, thoy frequently did things .that he and others did nof approve of. He might say that the railway men wero not entirely satisfied with their members of Parliament, and they •wero not satisfied with the new railway regulations. Division I had reason to be grateful for what was given it in the regulations. He did not begrudge tho members of that division what they had got: he thought they had got nothing But justice. Apart from the extended holidays, tho new' regulations scarcely in any way benefited Division 11. He referred to the provision made for lodging allowances. Prior to the amendment of the regulations the minimum allowance for Division I was 65., and for Division II the maximum was 55., wtih the exception of boilermakers. tinder the new regulations the minimum, of Division I was incroased to 7s. 6d. per night away, from home. But the' maximum for Division II remained unaltered. The allowance for-Division I was only fair and reasonable, Ifone-.trave!-led over the Dominion and stayed at hotels, one stayed at a respectable one and did not search for the cheapest house, and one found that 7s 6d scarcely paid one's way. (Hear, hear.) One could not pay one's way on ss. Then there was sick pay.. It was only fair that a man should have sick pay, but ithey'.found that while the sick pay of Division I had been extended, Division 11, whose members got no sick pay, were still lying in the same old ruck. Again, members of Division 1, when travelling by steamer got an allowance, but in Division II men got nothing. Mr. G. W. Russell,. in responding, said he absolutely agreed with whatihad' been said-that' the distinction drawn between'the cost of-living and.the expenses of travelling of the two divisions was improper ;atid" undemocratic, • - ; Mr.G. Witty, M.P;, said'that-on.the Railway. Committee-, members ■ had"' protested • again'at any differentiation , between the branches of .the, service in,'ret gard to'sick'pay arid holidays,; and considered that all. should be,.tfeated alike possible. As to/making the railways. pay, they should not forget that the railways belonged-to the people, and should not be run to create a dividend, but'run for the people of the country and those employed on the railways should get a fair 6hare from tho profits, and if there was any loss it was the country's benefit if everybody was benefiting, ; \ ■