Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1924. THE RAILWAYS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 10106, 7 May 1924, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1924. THE RAILWAYS.

The proposal of the Government to appoint a Commission to investigate the whole of the conditions of the railway services will commend itself to the general public. Although one of the duties of the proposed Commission will be to inquire into the wages and conditions of work, hours, etc., of the railwaymen, and remove any anomalies that may exist, for we have no doubt they do exist, from the public point of view, the scope of the inquiry should be extended so as to provide an investigation into the economic working of the system. The public are not certain that the most business-like methods are yet being brought to bear on the working of the railways; they believe that further reorganisation is possible in order to make the services a reasonably safe commercial proposition. There has always been a tendency on the part of departmental officers to believe that the public was made for the services, and not the services for- the public. While the Commission is in being it should be instructed to review in the most comprehensive way the railway services as a commercial enterprise. There is great room for reform. . So far as the railwaymen and their recent strike is concerned, it is agreed that every efficient workman should be in receipt of wages which will command for himself and his family a reasonable standard of comfort. There are varied interpretations, however, as to what constitutes a ''living wage." The contention of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants that the length of the working week should be determined without reference to railway conditions j elsewhere than in New Zealand is somewhat unreasonable. Admittedly there are countries whose conditions it would be unreasonable to compare with those of New Zealand, but surely some weight' must be attached to the working conditions in Australia. The Minister for Railways has pointed out that the 48-hour week is worked by practically all the railway men in three States I in the Commonwealth, and in the | other three States all the railwaymen except those employed in shops work 48 hours each week

In matters of this kind comparisons may quite fairly be made. So far as pay is concerned the comparison between the wages of railwnymen and those of thousands of other manual workers in New Zea-

land is not unfavourable to the former, and in some respects the advantage is with the railwayrnen. Not only is the rate of wages paid to the men higher than that paid to the employees ! in most of the industries in the country, hut .the former suffer no deduction on account; of inclement weather, nor is their occupation affected by industrial disputes as in other industries. Their employment and their nay is continuous. Moreover, thev receive other privileges denied to those in non-Sta.te occupations.