THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 196, 17 February 1914, Page 6

THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

■MEN'S GRIEVANCES. ALLEGED INJUSTICES. POLITICIANS ATTACKED. By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, Sunilny. At the smoke concert hist night tendered by the local branch of the Locomotive Lnginc-drivers' Firemen's and Cleaners' Association to the delegates attending the Association's annual conference, reference was made to the new regulations and alleged injustice under which the loco .men labor. Mr. Kennedy, president of the Association, in proposing "The Parliament of New Zealand,", said that, whilst giving members of Parliament credit for sincerity in what they did, they frequently" did things that he and others did not approve. He might say that railway men were not entirely satisfied with their members of Parliament, and he wanted Messrs Witty and Russell to understand that they were not satislied witli the new railway regulations. He did not say that it" was possible for the members mentioned to have doiii what the railwaymen wished. Division I. had reason to be grateful for what .was given it in the regulations. He did not begrudge the members of that division what they had got. He thought' they had got nothing but justice. Apart from the extended holidays the new regulations scarcely in any way benelited Division 11. He referred to the provision made for lodging allowances prior •to the amendment of the regulation;. The minimum allowance for Division I. was (is, and for Division 11. the maximum was .«. with the exception of b'oilermakers. Under the new regulations the minimum of Division I. was increased to "s fid per night away from horn?, but the maximum for Division 11. remained unaltered. The alliowance for ; Division I. was only fair and reasonable, if one travelled over the Dominion and stayed at hotels. One. stayed at a respectable one, and did not search for the cheapest house, and one found tint ■ 7s Gd scarcely paid one's way. (Hear, hear!) One would not go far before finding that with an allowance of os one could not pay one's way. In the ■face of this they were inclined to kick at their members of Parliament, wiio I knew that the Division II men required just as much as Division I. men, and I who ought to have protested and had the matter put right. Then there was tsick pay. It was only fair that a man should have sick pay, but they found that while the sick "pay of Division I. had been extended, Division IL, whose mambers got no sick pay, were still lying in the same old ruck.' Again, members of Division I. when travelling ■by steamer got an allowance, but it appeared that their legislators imagined that Division 11. men when travelling .by steamer went straight to bed and •J-equired nothing at all. In 1912, when ■Mr. Homes brought in an amendment '.to the Railways Act, he said that he Jiad satisfied Division 11., with the exception of a small section. He reformed to the loco. men. Mr. Herries had added that he had given a certain amount to Division 1., though it was •not sullieient. and he thought Mint next .session (last year's session) he would satisfy Division 1., and almost thought Jie would be able to satisfy the loco, men under the Amendment Act.

Mt. Kennedy continued that they found that Division I. was fairly well treated ,and the men of that division ■had expressed themselves as satisfied, hut absolutely nothing was done for '.the loco, men, who were still in the same ruck as when the Minister made .his promise. Mr. Hcrrics had rfHd that owing to the Division 11. men having « petition before the House no alteration could be made in the Hill. That was the excuse he made. They .claimed that the Minister's promise still held good, and as there was another ;csI sion of Parliament coming on they trusteed that Mr. Hemes would carry out his ' 'promise and satisfy the loco. 'men. Of -course he (Air. Kennedy) understood that the Minister could onlv satisfy them for a time. If they were satislied to-morrow they would'not be satisfied in a few years' time. He was quite sure that the other divisions would not !be _ satisfied in a year to come—not .whilst the cost of living was continually creeping up and whilst other sections of workers were getting their .wages raised, ■•», j , -->^ k )•■ Mr. 0. W. Russell. 11.P., i„ rcspomtj ing, said (lie members of Parliament, as : such, had no responsibility whatever in connection with the railway regulations. I.(Hear, hear). The Executive of the j country for the time being possessed , 'the sole power of making regulations. The only power members of Parliament j possessed was when any legislative proI posals came before them in the shaoe of Bills. (.'oMsetinently the remarks made by. Air. Kennedy regarding the | remissness i,f members bf Parliament did I not apply. He absolutely agreed with what had been said that the distinction ■drawn between the cost of living and' I the expenses of travelling of the two {•divisions was improper and undemoI cratic. (Continued applause). No- ' ,°rrVT ld sn - v t, ' al a '"embers of the |.vl'.C. Association should be placed on the same level as regards travelling e\--jjejises as the Oeneral Manager" but there ought not to be any difference between the allowances made for an ave- ' rage member of Division I. as compared •with an average member of Division 11. (Applause). The same remark would apply to sick pay and to travelling ;, v steamer. As to where the money wa'« to conic from to meet the expenditure involved in meeting the demands of the •loco, men he did not know. He had recently reviewed the financial position , of the railways, and his recollection was that during the past nine months the expenditure rose from 08 per cent to 74 per cent, of the /revenue, which represented a huge reduction in the pro-it drawn by the country from the. railways. In the House they were told that the expenditure had gone up owinoto the increase granted to railway servants, but he gathered from what Mr Kennedy said that the loco, men hail cr o r. "one of (his, and there was still "an misatislied demand on the part of a ku'ge and important, and perhaps the most responsible portion of the railway service. (Applause). They required to level up the cost of living of those employed by (he State. During the past years the standard of living had risen tremendously in Xew Zealand, and in his opinion salaries bad not increased in proportion to (he rise in the standard of living. He believed the country as a whole was prepared to do the fair thing to (he railway service, and every •branchy of the public service. There ■were, in his opinion, large sources of" revenue which could be obtained by th(loveriiinent, and which would help (o satisfy the demands of the workers without materially affecting the rev.;-j nue. Take, for example, the wool at present being conveyed over the rail- ' ways and bringing huge prices, and he I ■believed it was worth £ls pel . lm j„ I What would happen if a proposal wore

made to put an extra charge on wool and devote the money received to raising the income of one or two bodies :if men? That was one direction in which the railway revenue could bo increased. Mr. G. Witty, M.P., said that Mr. Kennedy remarked that railway men were not satislied with the members or Parliament, Well, in a few months' ■time they would have an opportunity of changing them if they thought lit, but he would like to remind them that it was better to have "Hie devil you .know than the devil you don't know." (Laughter and applause). Members of .Parliament had fought for the men's rights on the Railways Committee, but as regards the regulations they were powerless. The regulations were framed first by the Railway Department and passed by the Executive, and not llv members of Parliament. On the Railway Committee members had protested against any differentiation between (he branches of the service in regard to sick pay and holidays, and icckoncd tint all should be treated alike as much as possible. Kvery man, no matter whit his position was. is a. human being, and had a right to be treated as such,' and the members of Parliament were quite prepared to treat them as such. lie contended that Division IL being the lowest paid should have had lirst consideration, and should have been levelled up before those l»ltcr paid. As to making the railways pay, thev should not forget that the' railways belonged to the people, and should "not be run to create a dividend, but run for the people of the country, and those employed on the railways should get a fair share from the profits, and If'there wore any loss it was the country's bene•fit. If everyone outside the service were benefiting as the result of tlie railways being run by the State, so also ought those who were running the railways for the State. (Applause). ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. SIR JOSEPH WARD REMINISCENT.

j IMPROVED CONDITION'S. , Wellington, .Sunday. At the banejuet given by the A.S.R.S. on Saturday night to commemorate the opening of its new headquarters, Sir 'Joseph Ward gave an interesting review ■of the railways' progress. Sir Joseph said there was an enormous obligation on the part of the country to its public services, and New Zealand owed that more especially to the railwaymen. He remembered being scornfully pointed at as being an optimist for having said n few years ago that the Railway Department would soon' have 50,000, employees. They had nearly half the number now, and it would" not be. long before those figures were reached. Jsut as he looked round the gathering he saw evidence of the many changes that had taken place in the Department. {There was on his right, for instance, (Mr. Ronayne—(applause)— whom he hoped was now having a happy time. Then there was present Mr. Hiiev. It did not matter whether thoy all agreed or not with the appointment of Mr. ■ Hiley. Everyone in the country wished him personally success in New Zealand. (Applause). He expected that these changes would still go on, and all he hoped was that every man in the service would have the same chance of becoming general manager as hi? fellows.

LOOKING BACKWARDS. J. Becoming reminiscent, ,Sir Joseph said he marvelled at the evolution of the Dominion's railways. To him it seemed a simple matter to deal with railway difficulties now compared with j tlie tasks of a few vears ago. Since Janjiary 1, 1895, oii which date the railways came under the direct control of the people, a marvellous change had taken place. Until tiiat time the representatives of the railwayment had not had the opportunity of placing their grievances before Parliament. The first Act of the Government of the day was to invite file railwaymen of botii divisions to formulate and submit for the consideration of the Government proposals having for their object the hetle"ment of working conditions ami the increased pay to all employees. Facilities had been offered the representatives of both divisions to meet in Wellington and confer with the Government respecting the proposals. The outcome of the conference had been the first li-iii-j way Classification Act. 1S!M1.

INCREASED PAY. ■ A further improvement was iiiiido in the pay of certain members l)v .111 amending Act in 1897. Tin- position in 18!)!) (tlie year he assumed the portfolio of Hailways) was that apprentices were receiving: Kid per day, rising to .as a day for their sixth Year, but 'with 110 guarantee as to continuity of 0111ployinent after their term of apprenticesliip was complete. Junior porters and laborers received 2s (id a day. rising to 5s (id, according to age. Porlcrs and adult laborers were graded in two classes, the minimum pay in grade 2 being (is per day, with one increment of Oil, making a maximum of (i-i Oil a day, ■at which these men remained until there was a vacancy in the higher grade, and vacancies, he might mention, were few in those days. First grade, porlevs got 7s, rising to 7s (id as a maximum. Shunters, signalmen and storenien got 7s to 7s Oil in the third grade. 8s in the second and Ss Gd to !)s in the lirst and special grades. Crossing-keepers received 25s to 30s a week. Tin; working week in those days averaged Si hours, and there was no overtime pay. Other rates of pay were: Guards 8s to S-. (id (second grade), lirst grade !ls to H's; tradesmen in the workshops Ss to 10s; enginedrivers (lirst grade) lis to J2s. second grade 10s to Ids (id: cleaners ;!s (id to 5s a day, according (0 aw; lirenien, 7s (id to Ss in grade ■> anif S* liih to'(ls in the first grade. A similarly low basis of pay prevailed for other members of the second division. As for the first division, thev, too, were badly paid, and their conditions had to be improved. In 1!)00 a special allowance of (id a day was given to all employees of Us fid per day, tl si 10

I the country in the first year licin» CU:Mi ami in tin; second ypav 1 , 2().!1. , ii. In :10I)I an amended Classification 'Act was passed materially bench'time b.i'h divisions. It made statutorv -and ;l . very Kood thing, too—the allowances previously granted, and provided I'm- In creases involving an expenditure uf c:lit,(l()(i per annum. In l!)0."i (lie niinimiim rate of pay for adults was raised by special allowance to Ss ])er da v. with other adjustments in other grailes of division two. Coincident with lliis f!n> hours of guards, drivers and llrennu were reduced from 51 to 48 per week. The cost of these alterations was £-!:!• 000 per annum. Another Classification Act had been passed in l<)07. milking statutory the special allowance granted ii 1903 and providing further advances in-the rates of pav' in other grades. This involved an'increase o« ■l 80,000 per year. I„ ]n„ B allowances were agreed to. raising the pav of married men m the service to £l3O pw

annum. Later (in 1912) this was in creased to £l4O per annum.

The annual increase in expenditure involved was ,£20,000. Further advances in 1011 cost £41,840 per annum, and in January, 1912, a special allowance brought the minimum pay for adults to 9s per day in the lower'grades. Proportionate increases were granted involving an expenditure of £44,300 per annum. Briefly, the increases that had been granted amounted in many instances to 50 per cent, • Then the Government had adopted a policy o? shorter hours, improved working" conditions, and a consistent advance in wages, so that every worker might earn a reasonable living wage. The lower grades of the service, which constituted" the bulk of the stall', were always th • first care of the Government. To keep money in circulation and so to provide employment, it was decided in 1901 that ail rolling stock should be made within the Dominion, and Ibis had been done ever since, and new a valines of employment had been found. REVENUE AND' CONCESSIONS.

Sir Joseph summed up the position with an interesting set of figures. As an indication of the progress of tin railways, £3,347,858 had been spent en improvements and additions to rolling slock and the workshops; £1,40(1,088 on safety appliances; additions to open lines between 11)00 anil 1912 carried, out by the maintenance branch had cost £4.814,490. The ordinary revenue during the same period ' increased by .£■2,052,018, and the expenditure by £1,413,538. The number of employee's in the service advanced from 7230 to 13,523; concessions to the service hid accounted for £070,000, and concessions to the public by means of reduced fares, freights, etc., had cost £2,000,000. From 1902 to 1912 the Railway Superannuation Fund had been raised to £253,457, and 1184 retired railway servants were now receiving benefits' costing £4700 per annum.