wITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, morning News and The Echa: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 1924. THE RAILWAY REPORTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 220, 16 September 1924, Page 4

wITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, morning News and The Echa:

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 1924. THE RAILWAY REPORTS.

I • For the cause that lacks assistance, i For the wrong that needs resistance, I For the future in the distance, ' i A.nd the good that *oe can do.

' Confused by the unanimous, majority, , and minority reports issued by the | tribunal appointed to consider the rail- . waymen's grievances, the public may And ' it difficult to get a clear idea of what is • recommended in the main issues and '. what has been accepted by the Govern- • ment. In more than half the claims the c Board were unanimous, but on the main • issues of wages and hours, majority and - minority reports have been presented, . and the Government has accepted the unanimous and the majority findings. . Before the strike the men asked for an •j increase in wages, and the Department • replied that this would be conceded if they worked a 48-hour instead of a 44-hour week. When the strike collapsed the 'Department reintroduced the 48-hour : week, and it now finds its policy supported by a majority of the. Board, including the President of the Arbitra- : tion Court and the employers' assessor > ,on the Court. This majority report recommends that the traffic and stores sections work a 48-hour week, with over. 1 time after ten hours in any one day. : The old system of overtime for night . work is aibolished, and as compensation > the overtime rate is raised. All this, however, applies only to part of the service. The locomotive, signalling, and | workshops men are to be allowed to decide by ballot whether they wyill work • a 44-hour week or a 48-hour week, with - certain specified overtime rates. : This discrimination between sections of railway services is defended on the ground that the conditions of work are dissimilar and that these differences correspond to differences between other industries for which the Arbitration Court has already made allowance. There is a difference, though as to how far the Department is justified in pushing it opinions may differ. The work of a workshop' employee or of an enginedrivsr is not of the same nature as that of a man in charge of a country station. The majority of members seem to be justified in believing that the work of the traffic branch is less continuously strenuous than some other kinds of railway work, and some of the duties' of members of that branch do not call for much skill. They are right, too, in contending that in the interests of the service some elasticity of conditions is required in the traffic branch. That is to say, you cannot have efficiency with a strict eight-hour day, and Messrs. Mack and Hunter, who in a minority report strongly object to the majority recommendations about the traffic section, admit "it is impossible to fix the duties in every case at exactly eight hours per day." The abolition of rates for .light work, however, strikes us as probably a mistake. Whatever the work is, it is more arduous, more severe on the worker, by night than by day.

It should be noted that in the opinion of the president of the Arbitration Court, and a majority of the Board, railway wages have been brought into conformity with the cost of living; the railway servant has many advantages which are not enjoyed by other workers; and a comparison between railway wages and conditions here and in Australia is all in favour of New Zealand. Railwaymen may not agree with this opinion, or may hold that even if they aro getting all that is here set out, it is not enough. It is at least a gain, however, that the whole question -has been investigated by a tribunal which includes the members of the Arbitration Court, so that a pronouncement has been made on wages and conditions by the most competent body in the country. But what is the balanco of gain and loss in the report, and what will be its effect on the service ? Judging by the explanation we publish from a correspondent in Wellington, who is exceptionally well informed on these matters, the Department lias gained more than the men. The Department has had the 4S-hour week for the traffic section confirmed, and it is now able to operate on a more elastic system. Our correspondent expects the Department to save money on wages, but explains that this gain will operate gradually. Bather than dismiss hands at once, the Department prefers not to fill the places of men who leave the service. It may therefore be expected that this year's accounts will show a reduction in the proportion of expenses to revenue, which will please the taxpayer.