RAILWAY CLASSIFICATION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4780, 23 July 1894, Page 3

RAILWAY CLASSIFICATION.

lii the petition by which the railway stationmasters of Now Zealand ask for a system of classification, as announced recently in the limes, they state that the anomalies in the railway service are glaring, and they ask that tlie Government when dealing with their proposed Railway Mill would insert n clause enabling the Hoard of Commissioners to alter the present system of classification, so that their officers may he placed on the same fooling as tliose in the Postal Department. They find that thcsalariesof railway officers average close upon £4O per man less per annum than those of the officers of the Postal Department, who in addition to their salaries fixed by laware able to receive commissions! and other allowances denied to those in the railway service. It appears that when a stationmaster is appointed to perform tho additional duty of postmaster lie is paid a less salary than the postmaster received, and on tho other hand, that when a postmaster is appointed to tako over the postal duties from a stalionmastor, lie receives immediately a largo advance upon tho sum paid to the statiomnastcr for the two duties. The petition further points out that in the matter of annual leave, the Railway Regulations allow only 14 days, as against the general rulo in other branches of the Civil Service of four weeks and all public holidays. The traffic in tho Railway Department is greater on public holidays,which means that nearly all the officers must remain on duty, and so to compensate them, they aro very considerably ranked below ftvorago and their period of recreation is shortened.

The responsibilities and hours of duty of railway officers it is submitted, are greater than those required in the Postal Department. Neglect in the case of a railway servant may mean manslaughter, whereas similar neglect in other departments might be met by a reprimand. It is clear that tho system in force on the railways of the Colony is not due to any desiro of tho presontorpastßoards of Commissioners to underpay their ofliccrs, but it is a system which hasgrownup gradually through positions having been filled as they became vacant by officers receiving smaller salaries.

A postmaster of the lowest grade receives £175, and,a statioumastcr £l4O, a difference of £35; postal clerks are paid £IBO, as against £l'lo paid to railway clerks; tho salary of a postal oflicer of the second grade is £220, whereas that of a railway officer of tho second grade is only £180; a postal officer of tho fourth class receives £3OO, while only £250 is paid to a railway oflicer of the same grado; and so on through the service this disparity occurs,—N.Z, Timet