PARLIAMENT

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1924, Page 4

PARLIAMENT

RAILWAY HOARD’S REPORT. WELLINGTON, Oct. 0. The Hon .1. G. Coates laid oil the table the report of the board appointed to investigate wages and working conditions in the railway service. Discussing the report Air Veitcli said the net result, of last year’s work hail shown improvement in every part of the Department, and as a consequence the railways had earned a slightly higher percentage than that fixed by the Act. He made an appeal for better treatment of casual employees, and deprecated the practice of running Sunday trains, and of starting trains just before midnight on Saturday to the detriment of employees, Extra pay to men for night work was the greatest concession ever made to them, though not the most costly to the Department. and the Liberal Party had done its best to prevent it being taken away. He appealed to the Minister not to deal too harshly with the men just because they had been led into a fatal mistake by the’ leaders. There never should have been a strike on the railways, hut. he asked the Alinister not to judge Hie men harshly on account of this one injudicious act. hut to take their general record, which was one of efficient and faithful service. Vindictive treatment would only recoil on the Alinister himself. Air Holland said that Air Veitc-h had tried to throw the whole blame of the late strike on the leaders ol the Amalgamated Society ol Railway Servants. This was a serious reflection on the common sense and intelligence of the railwavmen whom it made appear incapable of thinking for themselves. He repudiated that charge and regretted that, it had been made hv an ex-railway worker. With regard to the hoard’s report he did not agree with the findings nf t.he hoard, hut as the Govolliment had accented them ho contended that it was a fair thing that the terms and conditions of the findings of the hoard should he carried out. He referred specially to the ballot now being held, from which casuals were being excluded when the hoard had only recommended the exclusion of apprentices and juniors. This meant that from four hundred to six hundred men were deprived of the opportunity to vote regarding the conditions under which they must work. Then, again, why should tratlic men he excluded from the ballot- 1 lie deprecated the Alinister’s policy of differentiating between .sections of railway workers by working some forty four hours and some forty-eight hours per week. This would only create irritation and not make for efficiency in the service. llow could it make fur efficiency anil goodwill when the engine driver at one end of a train was working under one set nf conditions while the guard at the other end was working under other conditions? Il seemed to him that the A.S.R.S. men were being penalise!! liecause of the strike, which was simply the result, of economic conditions, and this vendetta against the A.S.R.S. \,\is not going to improve matters. Until we got to the root of the evil and gave llie men a voice in the management of the railways there would he no permanent peace in this great department.

Air M’llvridge said the general opinion which would he formed as a result of reading the report of the hoard must he that there was something radically wrong with the railway service, anil lie saw no prospect of the policy of the Government providing a remedy. The light, however, was not over, and if the .Minister failed to treat the men generously they would find means ol retaliation. He moved as an amendment that the report lie referred hack to the -('iiurt with a recoinemlation that the agreement of Fcl.ruarv ffril, 1921, he reverted to. The amendment was seconded hv Air Savage. In doing so he said the only sure remedy for industrial unrest, mid strife was to give workmen the ri-spiui-sihilily of a voice in the management of the iudlist lie., ill which they were employed.

Mr S. G. Smith (Taranaki) said the Minister lmd been most unfair in permitting the impression to get abroad that railwayinen were being supplied with houses at- 9s nor week, because I hut applied only to a very limited ovI•*iit. I !;■ appealed to lhe Al'iii ter (.-■

'];• l.!i:;t many men were ren-iv-in." e" "hnh the.' (onld not live and bring 11 ;» a family, and In' expressed a hope that the Minister would ol his own volition provide (he desired remedy. Air Alimtietli said that, some inemlieis of the hoard which drew up the report knew nothing of transport work and many statements in the rqiinrl were in consequence utter rubbish. If the report was adopted it could only have one effect, ami that was to give ti lead to I lie Employers’ Federation that the Government’ working wtek was fin ty-eiglil hours. II railwaymoii in Australia were entitled to extra pay for night work whv should such extra pav not he paid in X»w Zealand? Mr Al’lveen and Air Al’Unmhs argued that tin l report was only part of a .scheme for a reduction of wages, planned hv tin l Government ’as earlv as 3921. ' Air Sullivan endorsed the view that unrest among railwayman could only he eliminated by permitting them some share in the responsibility of managellieii t.

Air AVi!final said that tin* Liberal Party bail since 1011 supported the principal of a hoard of management lor the railways on which the men would be represented. They this session supported extra pay for night work and also the forty-four hour u cek.

Air Laiigstone contended that the whole of the unsatisfactory eonditions on the railways wen* due to wasteful management.

.Mr O’lirien condemned the “spying" system, which, he declared, existed in tin* railway service. lie hoped that there would lie ho victimisation of strikers, as it was commonly rumoured there woidd be.

A division was then taken on Air Al’Hvride’s amendment, which was rejected hv .‘JO to l?o.

The Hon ,1. (!. Coates, in reply, said that, it was the intention of the (lovernment to put into operation the recommendation of the board. The men had asked for it. They bad refused to go on with the first board, lie thought in that they made a mistake, but that was for the men to decide. They would now la* running the railwavs on a new basis, and, if. as a result of that change, they were ultimately able to pay the men night rates, and give them other concessions, they would do that. They were also going to make a reduction in freights. Afr Parry: And take it out of the hides of the men. Air Coates said the Government had no intention of treating the men unfairly. Init they could not. go on increasing pay and shortening hours, in a short time he hoped tlie*v would get into a position in which the people of New Zealand would sa.v the railway men were entitled to better pay and better conditions. There was no intention to victimise the men, and representations of tin* men’s associations would always he carefullv listened to. The paper was then laid on the table.

[by TELraiurn—run press association AVTJLLIN(.’TON. October 7. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Legislative Council met at 2.80 p.m. The Wliakatane Uomugh ■KmpoworI iug Bill was reported from the Local Bills Committee with amendments, but. was referred back to the committee ior further consideration. The AledicnA 'Practitioners Amendment Bill was put through its final stages and passed. v At 0.30 the Alanagers from the Council and the House of ltepresentatives met to consider the amendments made in the Alortgnges Final Extension Bill.

hut tlie.v failed to come to a conclusion on the subject of dates, especially the dates fixed in Section !). The report was agreed to. THE HOUSE. The House met at 2.30 p.m. The House was engaged all day discussing the Gaming Amendment Hill which passed the second reading on the voices. The House rose at tit.3o.