The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1911. RAILWAY SERVANTS.

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 31, 1 August 1911, Page 2

The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1911. RAILWAY SERVANTS.

THAT the railway service is seething with discontent and dissatisfaction is a fact patent to even a cursory observer, and when the matter is looked into we are of the opinion that it is much worse than appears on the surface. We have no sympathy whatever with the,extreme demands of the Labour Party. Taking the workers of New Zealand as a whole, they have great reason to be thankful that they are located in a land where conditions are so favourable to workBut it is strange that a Government which is such a friend to Labour should deal so harshly with its own employees. It is bad enough to exact conditions of toil that are irksome in the extreme, and often, we believe, bring danger very near to the passengers on the trains, but it is very much worse to subject those servants to a system of espionage, which is surely a relic of the dark ages, and must be an intolerable insult to every decent man in the service. The Minister in charge has promised that £50,000 shall be put on to the wages of railway servants this year, but, as Mr Lang most aptly put it, this is the year of promise, and with Governments as with others, promise does not always lead to fulfilment. If such an amount is needed to bring the wages of these employees up to a decent standard, then we must conclude that they have been very much under-paid. We are perfectly certain that not even Mr Millar can get good results from underpaid servants, and the only conclusion we can arrive at is that it is more good fortune than good management, that we have not had more accidents on the railway than we have. We are fully convinced that whatever happens to the Government at the forthcoming election, it is imperative that a change should be made in the management of the railways. A man may know a lot about steamships a'ndthe sea, but very little about railways and their management. And the results prove that under the present regime there is nothing but discontent and dissatisfaction. There is no question about the discontent in the service, and the travelling public are more than discontented, they are completely disgusted at the way complaints remain unheeded. The railway service of New Zealand, under proper management, would be one of the best, and would give astonishing results. But what with differential tariffs and discontented servants, the results are disappointing, but we cannot look for any improvement under the present management. We need a complete and thorough change in this department of the Public Service, not only in the head of the Departmentbut in the subordinate officials; but if we got a change at the top and a live man in charge, some of the fossils would have to go, too. We hope for the

good of the country as well as for the safety of travellers that a change will come soon, and that the railway servants will get their just demands.