RAILWAY SERVANTS' MEETING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81917, 4 February 1907, Page 3

RAILWAY SERVANTS' MEETING

ADDKESS 11V illi UUKNSUY. About liitv railway men assembled at the Brougham stieet Hail on ttmiday afternoon, when thev were addressed by Mr J. T. „\l. editor ol the "Uailway Review." Mr Jh], King, president of the New l'lymouth branch of the Amalgamated Society of Kailu'ity Servams, prestuou and introduced Mr llornsby as a man thoroughly interested in the betterment of the conditions ol' the railway service-. Mr llornsby lirst touched on Ihe i"eeut friction l.ictwee.ii himself and the geucral manager uf the railways and the executive of the society, owing to the publication uf articles fioiu his setting forth some of the grievances of the men m the service. The general manager bad a sort of ad visory Mard to >can all articles before they a}>pca»vd in print. |>iu lie (Mr llornsby) nad rcsointely declined to

accept this proposition. That caused the trouble, which he thought had nowbeen satisfactorily dealt, with to the advantage of the railway servants. Had he as'sented, what would have been the position'.' Tnc "Railway Guide" would have been absolutely prevented from criticising tiie actions of the general manager. Jin I tne.v must not allow the (Jovernmenl to dictate tiie policy of the railway men's paper. (Applause.) lie would not submit to the dictation of the manager or the Minister, for that would boon reduce railway men to conditions approximating serfdom, and thev would have to sublniu to dictation for all time, Now they were endeavouring to nave tiie •Society reorganised, more paiticularly with regarl tu its executive. The pre-.-ciit executive roiihl not cope with the

work—ibat w:h certain. recoil M-lii-iHf involvd the ilivi-ioti ol tin' uilo wliat he would term four e'liii-liluL-neii-s—the trallic, loco, shops, and maintenance, eaeh I'elurning it.i rrpnv-i ntiili\e on th;- ex»H-nLi\e. Tiie president ami general rccielary. too, would l-e elected by ttie whole ol the members tlironghout Ihe colony. | The pj'esUlenl. in aj>proaehing the gen j era! manager or the Milliner would ; then be a man of position, having behind hint the votes of live or six thousand railway men. And Ministers ot lue Crown were very chary of oll'end ing a man who reprcseiiitul six thou sand other.-. Lho.-e UUUU would probably contnd votes, and he could assure ihem chat .Ministers were Very careful ot :M 000 votes at election tune. Now. ne did not want to make the Society of Kailway Servants a pn litical orgamsation—there were 100 many ot them already—but he wanted them to realise their power 4 when united. Returning to tne reorganisation ' scheme, .Mr llornsby said two commit tees would be necessary—one for the ' general executive work, ami the other

to deal with eomplaints, appointing sub coimnilt'.'ew i.o enijuiie inlo repoit' ed grievances, and m> lonii. Tlien the whole of the bigger business of "1 lie Society would be dealt with by the executive council meeting; at Wellington once a tpiarter. There mignt be a grumble at the expense, buc it was really a commercial proposition, iiiij \estiiig the funds of the Society with a view to drawing big dividends in t lie share of beLLer treatment, better wages, shorter hours and a better condition of things all round. That's what they were all after. .New Zealand, tie said,, prided itself on being in the forefront of democracy and reform, claimed to liave 'solved manv of the great social problems, and we called; it "Cod's Own Country." Yet here, in this so-called democratic country, they had to ".-neak about" in ihe work ol r-'form. liven the pub' ii-hed report* of the Railway Conference were but skeleton minutes of the proceeding-. no : . full reports of the dis eussions, as were published., say, in ' \ ictoria, where tfie conditions were not supposed to be as democratic as ours. Tnere the railway servants had frequent talk-s with the premier I or the on railway matters, and the proceedings were always

fully reporlcd for the railway men's paper. ,\ 111 I e\el'v lllilll jll 111'" si'i-vico, even away bad; Yi til ■ "Never Never country,'" c-uu'<l tell from his paper how railway nmtU-w jimpr-wed. That was more than lie (Vr 1!orn-1') knew ill this country. anil he liticl tie reports liist liamland it was more tli:in anyinn' !•;««• cmiJd know, unless he were n IMnladdpliian lawyer, with wonderful divining power-. lie urged his hearers to pa v mole ;: i ! <-11J i- Jll to tllO brand 'ctiiig-. ■ tlio need ul' a rational :<j*i I<j a-l>. Tiu: chief l'uasoii was tciat Uio railway men \v»*ro being payed with as a wit" played with a niou-c. cM-ept that "this cat doesn't chew vou up at the finish,*' Some ul them get "chewed n]i" in another way -•>mei and men—shame mi mir democracy-Liu- hat must lie passed around lor I lie widow s and the father 1.N,. Vvi they talked about the living wage. when the 'i)>- ul til'' breadwinner , I'm-' a f,-A meant taking round . Hi,, hiit. People had the idea, thai railway men wen 1 better treated than '. anyone iney lnusi' show that that was not so. Referring to one or

two grievances, lie instance I Lin- cas- | ual labourers pay ol a. diiliing on hour i at aiiv hour of the night or day. At CIl ri>t elini ell 111..re was a lllilll who had lirai a canial labourer for 21 years, and a system was adop.cd ..I pultun: him oil' now and again lo ]ire. vent his obtaining any lengt.i of eon timinirs service. Those men, under a private employer, would get lime and a-quarter, time ami ahalf. or double: time, for work at irregular hours. Ami as there was not constant work, what Impe had they when their term of use fulness wtis over'; They must go on !o eharitabic aid, until, nt the age of li.") wars, tiicv might lie entitled t;i draw flic old age pension. lie considered the superannuation 'scheme, an admirable thing, should; he amend,'<l so that ihe payments would he continued after the death of tile bench ciary. At present, if a man died a. week after retiring on superannuation, liis widow could only get the balance of what lie had ] aid into tlu fund, . The iUtl'orMitiiition or class distinction set up l)y the Government was strong-

, ]y criticised, special rclerenee being I liiiide to :l" i-~>- of Ist class privilege tickets tu cme section of employees <-n holiday, an! 2nd class to the other servants. Then the regulations and rules o£ the service were so framed, he said, that men could hardly respect themselves, a lid Lite result was tuat the young I'ellofrs coming forward as cleaners were not of the be,-1. It had taken months of worry on liis part to ..vt a bath lilted lor the cleaners at Cross Creel;. He would like to see the general manager, after a night's OSSine cleaning, trying to cleanse himself with a bar of soap a:ul a bucket of clean water, lie urged the young men to be tempera ie, to gum the words "Don't, exceed" in tneir flats. The system of promotion and the coin i,nation of the "1« list" were referral to as a mockery, a delusion, and a snare, and Ihe speaker emphasised t..e necessity for ending or mending the 5 A vote of tlianks was accorded Mr llornsby (or bis address, on the motion ol' Jli' S. Smith (secretary ol the local branch of the A.N.U.S.) and so tended by ilr W. Thompson.