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Society's Claim No. 20 : That booking men off at their home station be abolished. The Department's advocate intimated that a minimum of two hours, including a meal-hour, was considered a reasonable minimum, and a majority of the Board recommends accordingly. We are of the opinion that after a man has been booked on duty it is wrong to book him off for any period during the day other than for meals. To do so is to extend the number of hours between his commencing and ceasing work. We therefore consider that men should only be booked off at their home station a minimum of half an hour and a maximum of one hour for meals. Society's Claim No. 21 : That any member called on duly on any one day shall be paid for a minimum of not less than four hours' work. A majority of the Board reports that it is unable to make a recommendation in terms of the claim, for with a guaranteed week's pay it is sometimes impossible to avoid booking a man on for a short period in order to make up the required time. It, however, recommends that the duty schedules should, as far as possible, be so arranged as to avoid unduly short periods of booking on. Wiiilst we to some extent agree with this recommendation, we are of the opinion that in a large, service such as the Railways it should not be difficult to find four hours' work for a man when booked on duty. It frequently happens that men are booked on for unduly short periods, which in our opinion can be avoided. We therefore recommend that this claim be given effect to. Society's Claim No. 29 : That meal-hours be definitely fixed as follows: Breakfast. 710 8 a.m. ; lunch, 12 lo 1 p.m. ; lea, sto 6 p.m. ; with only one booking-off in any one shift. The minimum meallime to be thirty minutes and the maximum one hour. A majority of the Board recommends " that employees the greater portion of whose hours of duty is between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. shall not be booked off for more than two meal intervals during their shifts, and, except where the exigencies of the service render it impracticable, the second of such intervals shall commence not loss than three hours or more than five hours after the commencement of the first. Employees the greater portion of whose hours of duty is between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. shall not be booked off for more than one meal interval during their respective shifts, such interval to be as nearly as practicable in the middle of the shift. A meal interval shall be not less than half an hour or more than one hour, and if it is impracticable to give an employee a full half-hour for a meal his time shall be booked as continuous. Shunters on night shift to bo dealt with under claim 30." We cannot agree with this recommendation, because the meal-hours as suggested can be manipulated for the purposes of extending the hours of duty. We therefore recommend as follows : Employees shall not be booked off for more than one meal interval during a shift, such interval to be as nearly as practicable in the middle of the shift. A meal interval shall be not less than half an hour or more than one hour. If it is impracticable to give an employee a full half-hour for a meal his time shall be booked as continuous. Society's Claim No. 35 : That crossing-keepers' and bridge-keepers' hours and conditions be placed upon the same basis as tablet-porters, and paragraph 2 of Regulation 105 be amended accordingly. A majority of the Board has no recommendation to make. Regulation 105, referred to in this claim, reads as follows : " The ordinary hours of duty of crossing-keepers and bridge-keepers at places where the work is in the opinion of the Permanent Head intermittent shall be sixty hours per week." The hours of tablet-porters are forty-eight where the work is continuous and fifty-six where intermittent. The hours of crossing-keepers and bridge-keepers where the work is continuous are forty-eight, and where the work is intermittent sixty. The claim therefore asks that the sixty hours be reduced to fifty-six hours per week. This we think a very reasonable request, and recommend accordingly. Society's Claim No. 36 : That all special runs be abolished. A majority of the Board has no recommendation to make. We are unable to find in any rule or regulation the definition of what is termed a " special run," but are advised that in various parts of the Dominion there arc runs which are not continuous, the consequence being that the trainmen are absent from their home stations for long periods during the day, and roceivo the guaranteed week's pay notwithstanding that their hours away from home may run into ten, twelve, or more per day, for which no extra remuneration is given. Wo therefore recommend that these runs bo abolished, and those trainmen paid in exactly the same way as other trainmen throughout the Railway service. Society's Claim No. 38 : That sawmill, house-factory, refreshment-room, and Lake Wakalipu staffs be placed upon the D.-3 list. A majority of the Board has no recommendation to make. "The regular employees on the Lake Wakatipu staff are already on the D.-3 list." Wo are unable to recommend the claim as it stands, but wo do recommend that the sawmill, house-factory, and male refreshment-room staffs who are eligible for permanent appointment should bo placed upon the D.-3 list and have all the rights and privileges granted to other members of the