RAILWAYMEN PROTEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 255, 28 October 1929, Page 10

RAILWAYMEN PROTEST.

NO SALARY RESTORATION.

"WILL CAUSE DISCONTENT."

UNION OFFICIALS' STATEMENT,

(By Telegraph.—Own. Corrcspondeut.)

WELLINGTON, Sunday,

The president of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Mr. J. Churchhouse, and the general secretary, Mr. L. Mcllvride, were in Westport when the Government's decision against the restoration of the Avages "cuts" was announced last week. They at once sent the following telegram to the Prime Minister:—

"Railwaymen throughout New Zealand are gravely disappointed with your statement on railway cuts. Consideration of a partial restoration, particularly for the lower paid men, was fully

expected. The Government's . decision 1 will cause widespread discontent throughout the service, following the statements made in recent months by yourself and your colleagues on the " question." The following is part of a statement , made by the president and general secretary after the telegram was dispatched:— "Believing that the prosperity of the country, so widely proclaimed by Sir Joseph a few months ago, was made possible to a very large extent by the Railway Department and the service of the railwaymen, and having in mind that a large majority of our members have had no increase in wages since 1920, but on the contrary suffered a big reduction in 1922, we confidently anticipated that our members would participate in the prosperity to the extent of a partial restoration at least. "We hold that, although the railways show a loss on. the year's working, the country made a profit as a result of the service rendered by the railways, some of which should have passed along income and customs tax channels to the Consolidated Fund for the purpose of meeting the claims of the railway men. It must not be forgotten that the railways have been and still are the greatest developmental agency in the country, and that although commercialised, they are still under Government policy. year the railways transported 7,000,000 tons of freight for something hk e> 000,000, which, had it been C Z T oILnL motor ' would cost i?o'TA°°' thus savin S tfl e People £18,000,00. That being so, the railwaymens wages should not be determined by the result of the year's operations disclosed by the Railway Statement, but by the .service they rendered to the Department and the country, a service which more than entitles them to a restoration of the wages cuts. "While recognising the seriousness of the many problems confronting the Goveminent, we feel that our men have been : slighted and refused common justice with ' respect to their wages claims, the in- ' evitable result of which will be wide- '■ spread discontent throughout the service." •' ,

Mr L N. White, of Frankton, who says he has cured himself of cancer by means of kerosene injections, left Frankton last evening for ' Dun'edin, his expenses having been paid by the husband of a woman who is suffering from the disease. Mr. White has. undertaken to treat her in the same way in which he treated himself.