A TRAPPIST RULE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 232, 20 December 1927, Page 10

A TRAPPIST RULE

IT having occurred to the Auckland tramway authorities that the motormen in their employ may perhaps be too talkative, they have forbidden them to converse with passengers, under threat of various pains and penalties, including the loss of good conduct holidays.

The good motorman, being “part of his machine,” may he regarded somewhat in a mechanical sense when “on the job. But it is quite a mistake to imagine that he is not human, or to regard him, because he is attached to a motor, as a kind of gramophone that gabbles incessantly to passengers. The motorman, in fact, is not a talkative person, as a rule; but since the tramway authorities have taken to cramming the front platforms of the trams, as well as the rear platforms with passengers, he has had conversation forced upon him. People generally do not regard him in the light that the tramway authorities have decided upon and give him a friendly nod and a “Good-day!” quite as the natural thing.

And, quite as naturally, the motorman responds to their greeting, and will reply to a question or agree with a remark. No one has yet seen a motorman drop his wheel to embrace an acquaintance while drivihg a tram, nor to execute a hornpipe or throw himself in joyful abandon backwards over the front of his car just because someone gave him a civil word. He appears to be quite capable of safely driving a car and putting in an occasional word in any conversation into which he is drawn. But the management of the tramways foresees dire disasters in the motorman being anything but a mechanical mute while on duty. As the secretary of the Tramways’ Union puts it, “under this regulation, if a passenger wishes a motorman ‘A Merry Christmas!’ the motorman cannot reply.” With equal force—and as little —the same regulation could be applied to the drivers of all motor-buses and other vehicles. It is a peculiarly inappropriate manner in which to reward employees who have so loyally aided the tramway authorities in their fight against competition and shouldered so much extra work, worry and responsibility in so doing. It is true that unrestricted conversation between motormen and passengers might lead to danger, but to say that a motorman cannot pass an occasional word or two with a passenger and still retain perfect control of his car is utter nonsense.