RAILWAY SERVICES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3120, 26 June 1917, Page 7

REASONS FOR THE "CUT" PURELY A WAR MEASURE "It in only natural, perhaps,, l-hal. Ihoso who suffer from the curtailment of railway service should endeavour, as far an is ill their power, to get the privilege* they havo En long enjoyed restored In them; but, at -the same time, t-ho masons for tho curtailment havo been to misrepresented, and such strenuous endeavours havo been mado, by innuendo and otherwise, to discredit tho actions of tho Railway Department, that; it is only fair that the actual facte from tho Department's side should be given," said the Hon. W. H. Henries, Minister of Railways, Lo a. Dominion reporter yesleruav.

"The Railway Department has had no quarrel with tho Defence' Department, but'is honestly aad fairly endeavouring to assist that Department in providing men for tho-front, and is honestly and fairly endeavouring 4 to do wliafc, I am sure, the Dominion desires it to do, that .is, to release as many eligible men. belonging to the First division as it can without serious damage to the railway system, before tho Second Division ia called , upon to serve. The Railway Department- is not curtailing trains for the pleasure of annoying its patrons and customers. It is not taking off jacn trains and losing revenue because it is a gainst racing. It is not dropping day trains from Sabbatarian principles. All these things are done because it ia uiought. right by Cabinet and by the Department that the greatest State industry should set the example to all other industries, essential and otherwise, and release, every possible mail that it. can, even if by doing so it may cause inconvenience, and in .some instances loss. "It is inevitable that loss and inconvenience should occur during war time, and as it is considered that tho supreme demand of the Empire is for men and more men, it would bo criminal if I, as head of the Railway Department, were not (o see that the demand for more men were not carried out. The blame, if thore is any which might be attached to tho Railway Department and myself, is that the curtailment was not made long before. Knowing, however, ttie inconvenienco that, would occur, it was not till the ballot system was in full vogue that I felt myself bound to bring in the system of curtailment which ia now in force. Meanwhile tho Railway Department was doing its full share under the voluntary system, as the following facts will show:

Railway Volunteers. "Prom the outbreak of tho war in August, 1911, until November, 1916, practically .no restrictions wero placed m tho way of railway men. volunteorins. At March 31, 1016, 1728 members of tho permanent staff had volunteered. During tho seven mouths from April 1 to Dccembor 7, 1916, an additional 106G mon had volunteered. Subsequently, 158 nonessential raihvaymen volunteered, making a total of 2953 members of tho permanent staff. Of the auxiliary or casual staff, about 2500 have joined the Forces. The Railway-Department has therefore released for military purposes 5152 trained railw'aymen, and is liable to still further demands, on the remainder through the operations of the Military Service Act. As a consequence of tho inroads made on' its members, increased and more strenuous work devolves on the remaining members. 'When tho ballot system came into operation, and railwaymen were drawn, it was obvious that further steps would have to.be taken, and not only that, but, further, the Imperial authorities (through the British Ministry of Munitions) made a strong appeal for a general reduction in services, in orcjer to limit the manufacture of matorials, such as rails, fastenings, and rolling-stock parts, imported from Home, enabling labour that would in other circumstances be employed in the manufacture of articles of commerce to be utilised in the manufacture of war munitions.

"In order to 'Dieot its obligations, a careful review of train services was made ,by tlTe Department, and a time-table was introduced with the object of ultimately releasing approximately a further 1000 men for military purposes. • The first lot of 150 mon lmvo already been under offer to the Defence Department since May 10. . When this lot has been released a further lot will bo offered, and so on till tho maximum number of spare men has been reachod. Obviously, tho whole of the mon cannot bo rolenscd at one and the same time, as tho Department must provide for efficiently carrying on the public transport under the existing time-table. Tho handiiig over of 150 men involves 800 transfers with all their attendant difficulties. Furthermore, tho men are not linblo for military service until they liavo been drawn in the ballot, and tho Department can only deal from time to timo with tho men who aro drawn.

The Position in Britain. "Eiglit military ballots havo been drawn up to tho present moment, and -the 150 men already offered to tho Defenco Department form a portion of tho first fix military ballots. In this connection, it may be pointed out that whereas for tiro years and nine months the New Zealand public havo enjoyed tho maximum railway conveniences, very drastic cur-

tailmenU of train cervices were made on | the English railways as far back as February, 1915, and further curtailments have taken place from tinio (o tiino since that date. Excursion tickets have been abolished, a limit placed on passengers' luggage (owners being required to do tho handling, porters nothing available), surburban railway stations closed, ordinary fares increased fifty per cent., convonicnco of through booking beyond junction points has been discontinued, town tioket offices and agencies havo been closed, restaurant cars taken off, and many other obstacles created with a view to restricting travel. "Prior to last Enstrr holidays the British public were advised no I: In (ravel by the railway controlling authority, and intimations were given (hat trains would not bo strengthened. As a concrcto instance, it may be stated that the Caledonian Railway Company, in March. IDI6, mado its third cut in passenger train services, releasing 52 locomotives for goods and mineral trains. On Juno 6, 1017, a memorandum in t.bn following terms was received from tho Ministry of Munitions in London:— The broad lines on which tho question of 'supplies for railways; is considered are:— (1) To secure, as far as possible, consistent with material available, tho upkeep, and maintenance in operation of existing locomotives, carriages, wagons, permanent wRy, and railway ■ plant generally. (2) To. defer (eicepl; for the direct "requirements of the army in the field) the building of new locomotive;, 1 whether.as additions or replacements; and of •'new rolling stock (especially passenger carriages), permanent way, etc.

A curtailment of passenger traffic down to the facilities of twenty years ago has had to be made in the United Kingdom, and less important railways . have been stopped altogether. Rails and sleepers have, in many cases, been dug up in order that they might bo used for the army overseas. Carefully Consldoreri. "The curtailment of train services, therefore, every patriotic man will, I a;n sure, say is justified. As to tho manner of curtailment, all I can say is that after careful thought and weighing tho merits of different systems, the system now in force was adopted, as it was considered by tho Department that by this means, and by this means only, the maximum number of men could bo released with less discomfort and inconvenienco than in any other way. It must be remembered that great curtailment of goods traffic has to bo avoided, as vo must intorfore as little as possible with our primary produots. Tho curtailment had therefore necessarily to fall on the passenger traffic. If it had not fallen on the suburban traveller, it must of necessity have fallen on tho back-block settler, who would have been,of all mon, the least able to bear it. Whero it has been shown that thero aro special'circumstances which might cause dolay to tho transportation of Imperial goods, and cannot be overcome in any other way, the Kailway Department are ready as far as is possible to provide a remedy, as they have done in the Lyttelton case, but remedial measures cannot be provided which would destroy tho policy adopted to release about 1000 men, or more, for tho front, and to reduce train mileage and so savo coal and material. A misunderstanding also exists in regard to paying off men at workshops, tho contention being that men eligible for military Bervice should be released to avoid the neoessity of dispensing with the services of others. There are four classes of labour in tho workshops, viz.: Ine permanent staff; the regular casuals (that is, men who havo beon employed tor a number of years and aro qualifying under tho regulations for permanent appointment) ; tho torm casuals (representing men who aro taken on for a stated period when the workshops aro working at nigh pressure); and the emergency casuals (who, as tho nam© implies, are engaged to meet exceptional circumstances arising at the moihent).

Tho Railway Workshops. "Tho inabiliiy of the Department to obtain supplies of material from abroad owing k> difficulties of shipping transport created by tho war has necessitated the suspension of tho rolling-stock building programme that had boon provided, and will olso materially retard and interfero with all other operations ordinarily carried out in tho workshops. A shortening of workshop hands is unavoidable in such circumstanoes, and obviously the Department is adopting tho proper, and, indeed, the only, oourso open to it in tho circumstancos, in arranging to pay off, first, tho emergency casuals, and next tho term casuals, as work can no longer bo found for them, and tho members of tho porraanent and regular casual staffs are entitled by right to first consideration. In tho ovent of vacancies occurring as ii ; result of non-essential men drawn in tho railway ballots joining tho military forces, the term and emergency casuals who have been paid off will, provided their work and conduol has been satis* factory, bo given first consideration, and _ they will likewiso receive consideration in respect of any work nvailablo from limo to tinio in tho other branches of the Department.

Shortage of Materials. "Tho effects of tho war on tho supply of material is aptly illustrated by the fact that tho Canadian Government, responding to a call from tlio British War Ministry, has begun to tear up 1000 miles of railway to moot tho needs of tho war in. facilitating tho movements of troops, guns, munitions, and supplies from Channel ports to tho fighting line in Franco; 300 miles of Government railway ridines havo been taken, up, and 220 miles of raila removed from the Grand Trunk Railway. In making the roquest for this assistance to the Canadian Government tho British Government represented that prompt action would save _ thousands of lives, in addition, to facilitating transport gonerally. This incident Ghows of itself tho object of tho Ministry of Munitions in conserving t.ko available material in Britain, and leaves no room for doubt that a considerable time -will elapse before the material ordered by tho Railway Department during the last two years will be forthcoming, and under euch conditions further reduction of casual hands in the workshops will be unavoidable. "I cairaot do better," Mr. Herries added in conclusion, "than to quota from a speech made' lately by Mt. Lloyd Georgo: " 'The nest fame you find yourself in au overcrowded train, tho next time you find that the timO-table is inconvenient to you, tho nest t.imo you have got to pay an extra faro, do not forget that you are helping tho

army in Prance by that means more than if you had 6ent thrco frosh army corps there.'"