THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1911. RAILWAY "PIMPS."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10275, 30 June 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1911. RAILWAY "PIMPS."

The railway "pimp" i® becoming a source of very great annoyance- to tihe railway servants of New Zealand. The "pimp" is an individual whose special function it is to spy upon railway guards and other officials, to see thai the regulations' are properly carried, out. Objection is not seriously raised, to a method of cheeking the work of officials, wibjdb is adopted .in all business institutions where a large n/umber of men are employed. Wlhat the railway seryiantis object to is the manner in which the ".pimping" is conducted. Tihey feel that tihey are not being treated as Honest men, and that tihe whole service is placed under the ban of suspicion. W(hile this feeling exists, it is not unreasonable to expect that the Dominion will not (receive the best service from those employed upon the railways. ISbe General Manager of Railways recently explained that the' Sjystem in. force was tihat usually followed. The official organ of the Amalgamated Railway Servants, however, disputes , this statement. In a recent issue it

said: — "It is absurd for the General Manager to say that the ordinary system, has been followed, when a 'man who comes from Australia is taken, on casually, at £6 per week, for the purpose, and has the- privilege of employing a woman as travelling companion and witness. Such an arrangement must he bad for the Department as well as unfair to the railway employee, because a casual will only be kept on so long as he shows 'results,' and we have evidence of how those results are being secured. If a few black sheep, had been discovered and dismissed as a result of extra- precautions we would not complain, because it is to the interest of the more numerous class of honest employees that this should be done, but the plan of the hired casual soy .results in honest men being trapped, often through goodnature, into committing small breaches of the regulations. The system is intolerable, and if it does not stop, we .shall have to take steps to put an end to the operations of the hirelings, hy circulating a description, which will put every railwavi.:an on his guard against them."