KAILWAY ENQUIRY

Hokitika Guardian, 29 January 1920, Page 1

KAILWAY ENQUIRY

IMPORTANT REFORM URGED

[PEH TRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.]

- WELLINGTON, Jou. 28

Mr Hampton addressed himself to demand that the Board should recommend to the Government the desirableness of the men, through their organisation, having representatives on the management and control of the railway system. I-lis Honour stated that the subject scarcely came within the scope of the inquiry, but he had no objection to being addressed on the question. According to Mr Hampton, the men desired a Board of Control on the lines of that being established in England, giving the men an appreciable voice in tho management ,and thus freeing the New Zealand railways from political control, besides making for efficiency and greater interest on the part of the men. If this were granted, the men would not have the deep-rooted objection they at present held to tho merit scheme proposed by the General Manager, which, put too much power j into one man’s hands. He believed that if the Board -would recommend the .proposal to the Government, it would be sympathetically receivedThe Second Division also wanted representation on all Departmental Boards established. -The men strongly urged that the Division barrier be abolished, as at present it was virtually impossible for the Second Division man to 'rise higher in the service, in contrast to what obtained in some English ser vices.

Mr,Hampton concluded with a statement of the case for the Second Division. DEPARTMENT’S CASE. The Assistant General Manager of Railways, Mr J. McDonald, referring to the A.S.ILS. case, said the Department recognised that the Society was actuated bv honourable motives. Thy claims were not what the Department regarded? as reasonable. Tho capita! involved in the-railways was, roughly. £40,000,000. Interest on the National Debt was about £4 2s per cent. The Department was trustee to the public and must carry on with the object of obtaining a return on the capital in vested in the railways, and to ensure tliatp the public would be called on at most to meet a minimum charge to make up the deficiency. All stores hat 1 advanced in prices phenomenally since 1913 and were still rising, and coai alone cost£l3s,ooo more in 1919 than in 1914. Other essentia] stores had risen up to as much as 400 per cent, above pre-war prices. The gravity of the situation was accentuated by the demands of the A.S.R.S., which would entail an extra expense of £1,100,000 The Department pay rates compared more than favourably with the rates in adjacent States. Mr MacDonald referred to the rises and bonuses given by the Department ( to meet the cost, of living and submitted tlie present pay complied with the conditions of a fair and reasonable wage. This was a basis wage of 12s and a bonus of Is per day given them. The cost of living adding to the index figures, had only advanced 3 per cent. The basis wage claimed for unskilled labour Is 9jd an hour represented an increase of 11 per cent of the rates made previously. The hours" of work (44 per week! and overtime claimed Ijv the society, would materially raise the pay of the men 'in the traffic branch. As to men leaving the service, Mr MacDonald said that the experience of the Department?* was that of other employers, the men since the war were seriously unsettled and were restlesly changing their occupations.