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Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 594, 28 March 1878, Page 2

We hare all heard of serfdom in Russia until our blood has almost curdled, and of the bold stand the nation to which we belong mad.-, in r.rjer to rid herself of the dark blot of slavery. Britain's raid was made against the enslavement of negroes in her distant possessions. She abolished slavery on account of the evils which attended it. Who has not read stirring accounts of families being separated and their members ill-used, because natural grief incapacitated them from forking up to the standard required by their taskmasters? Britain's sympathies were ari«zaed on hearing of such harrowin'' sufferings, 3nd she set her foot tirmly upon silvery throughout her Empire. We have slave; ip our midst. They may not be compelled t.Q separate" from their wives and families, nor are they goaded by the lash to work ; but work they must, and that like niggers, from one year's end to another, without the slightest prospect of ever being able to improve their condition in life. The position of the African slave was preferable to theirs, for tliey had enough food and to cpare, and we question very much if the satse .could be said with truth of the railway employes, of whom we are writing. Who ever 1123 rd a full-grown, able-bodied man tearing :iis soul from his body by working late ind early for ninepence or thereabouts Der hour, for ihftt is what it comes to. So payment is allowed for overtime, as though the necessity for overtime was an incuuimon occurrence. It appeals fco us j hat the extra hours worked during s.ome • reeks would of themselves fojrm a ! ;ood week's work. This is not good , nanagement. Servants who told posi- , ions more or less responsible ffi con- 1 taction with our railways 1110614 $t j

least be paid a sum sufficient to supply them and their families with food, clothing, and housing, or they will become careless and inattentive; and no one need wonder at that. They are being robbed in order that the profits of the department may look larger than they-otherwise would do. What we want to know is— Why do not those who feel the necessity for making our railways pay reduce their own extravagant salaries, and not lay the extra strain upon the servante who, while receiving a fair wage, find it hard enough to make both ends meet ? We do not object to railway officials being paid large salaries as a return for their labour and responsibility in connection with the department, provided they are fit to be entrusted with both ; but there are some men to whom it is no hardship to be saddled with responsibility, for they are oblivious of its meaning, and, as to work, thev and it have ever been enemies. We have before called attention to the underpaid, overworked' railway employes, here i and elst*where, and have been rc-minded that it was our duty to return to the subject bv the almost ceaseless labour to ivhicli "the employe* of Oamaru have been subjreted 111 connection with the transport of the Coo phi; and Bailey Menagerie and Circus. It is high time that something were done towards ameliorating the condition of our railway servants, and we trust that the overpaid and underworked bugbears of the department, to whose generosity is due the saving • ■ff. cted. and to whom railway employes '■ are indebted for their hards!.ips, will be dispensed with forthwith. The present Government will surely not continue a svstcui wliftrelty their hunlest woikocl servants, who. if they are not entitled to the credit of originating plans for the successful conduct of the department, are i necessitated to carry them out, oven though doing so should seriously trench upoiAheir hours of recreation, and make l them little better than slaves.