THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1911. THE RAILWAY OFFICIALS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10427, 19 September 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1911. THE RAILWAY OFFICIALS.

Evidence is not wanting that the railway officials! of New Zealand liave lost all confidence fin the Ministry of the diay, and that they treat promEises of reform, made at this laite hour, with open derision. lit cannot be forgotten that, prior (to the last election, promises of important concessions were made, and that, imimtelclliately the ©lection numlbeirs went up, these promises were either forgotten or repudiated. The irailwayanen have madte. frequent appeals in the interimi; /but thes© have been treated wjufch! almost silent contem,p(t by the Minister. A petition rfironi one division of rthe Department as even now before Parliament, piraying for relief. This will proßably result tin. the i introduction of a Bill to amend the

' Railways Act. Even the prospect ' oif such an amendment becoming law

does not impress the officials, who have a. lively recollection of the methods adopted to circumvent the will of Parliament as expressed in ihe Amending Act passed in 1907. Dealing with this matter, the official organ of the railway officers says: —"Amongst other, things, that Act provided ifior increased salaries being paid to the Chief Clerk and the two Traffic Superintendents, and it also raised the maximum salary of the , lowest gradle from £IBO to £2OO per j annum. No alteration in the position occupied by the Chief GLerk has j been attempted, yet the increased salary of the Traffic Superintendents was done away with as isoon as possible by the abolition of the title, although, as we have previously I pointed out, the duties formerly unI dertaken by the superintendents are i being performed by their successors in all but title and salary. Tine in-, consistency of the administration is very clearly outlined here, because in both instances the -reason for the increase an salary was the additional wiork and responsibility these positions were carrying as> a result of the increased traffic. Quite a number of officers riai. what .became, under j the new Act, the tenth grade, found I to their intense disgust that whilst I 'Parliament proposes 1 , the nianage--1 ment of the Railway Department disposesl.' We clearly rememiber the I credit the Government' took for hlav--1 ing introduced a measure to ensure j that those officers who were not conI sidiered eligible for advancement bej yond the lowest grade would at all I events receive a miinimum. salary of £2OO per annum,, that amount being the maximum salary attaching to the tenth grade, and there is no reason to doubt that roemibers of Parliament generally were (satisfied' the Act would effect this. The management, however, was of a different opinion, and the officers to whom we refer have been kept at £IBO per annum, t!foe .maximum of the •previous uiinth grade (the corresponding grade under (the 1901 Act), ever since the amending Act came into ifiorce."