"RAGGING" IN THE RAILWAY SHEDS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8866, 29 October 1907, Page 4

"RAGGING" IN THE RAILWAY SHEDS.

The decision of the Government to hold an enquiry into the alleged cases of "ragging" in the railway clean-ing-shed at Christchurch, is certainly a step in the right direction. According to reports, "ragging," sometimes of a most cruel nature, has been practiced for a considerable time on young cleaners just joining the railway service, but it is only recently that the matter has come under the notice of the authorities. Surely there must be some remedy for this sort of barbarity. It is stated, on good authority, that a case of "ragging" occurred in Masterton, last year, in which a new hand was subjected to ill-treatment by being held down by means of a board placed chest on which several other cleaners sat, while he was shaved in a not too gentle manner by a fellowworkman. His face was smeared 1 with grease and oil. Then, because he'Jiappened to wear a coat which did not conform to the tastes of the other cleaners, they set fire to it while it was on the wearer's back. The treatment to which this youth was subjected led to his leaving the service. These outrages give the railway service a bad name, and in the interests of justice every effort should be made to put a check upon them.