THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 156, 26 March 1908, Page 6

THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

CAUSES OF RESIGNATION. . . "RAGGING" STILL EXISTENT. . ' With regard to the telegram,' published yesterday, stating that resignations: from the railway ■ service j at Westport are -frequent, and that half a dozen young men have their notioes in at, present,; the' General Manager for Railways (Mr. T. Ronayno) states that 1 the circumstance has no , special significance. Men are always entering and leaving the railway'service, and there is .an' unusual do- . mand for labour in, Westport at'the present time, especially. at the mines. ; A good many , : young men-leave the Railway , Service, added the General Manager, because they do not look far enough ahead. : An im- . mediate .shilling -a', week/more, to' be earned is/often -.quite sufficient inducement for thorn to leave,, though their new ; work may offer none of those opportunities of promotion which the Railway Service provides. In no railway department in the world, said Mr. Ronayrie, can ■ men get on so quickly as in the locomotive branch of the New Zealand service, and 'the- conditions of railway ' em-< ployees will be/improved a good dcal_ further by the i' Government ' Railways Classification Act, which will come into force on April 1. Under that ./Act 'the; cleaner, who.must not be more than 19' years of age, will : receive ss. a day instead of 4s. Gd., with two annual increases of Bd. . and two ,of Is.; before lie . becomes ,entitled,. at the age of 22,. to .the' , 'full wage of Bs. a day; By that time'be' will'pronably be earning Bs. 6d.' as a' second- - class fireman. 'Not long afterwards- he maybe getting. 9s.Z6d. as a .first-class fireman, and after a' comparatively short further period he' may be a second-class engine driver at from 10s. 6d. ,to lis. 6d. a day. When h'o becomes'a first-class driver the pay will have increased 'to' 12s. or ;12s. 6d.; and .at any / time he .- may fill a vacancy as running shed foreman or locomotive foreman. 'In the •latter'.: case his salary can increase up ...to £400 a year. Cleaners in New Zealand, it was stated; can become'firemen arid'drivers . more rapidly than in any other part of the world, owing to 1 ; the. rapid .expansion of business.' There are very few cleaners who are not acting-firemen at least in two years. And yet the Department has difficulty in • obtaining • cleaners. !: \ '''-: , - : /"Rfliat is.the explanation?- A few lads ara deterred, perhaps,, by, the heavy night work / at the start. A- few have left on account of "ragging," which/ niav have made some ■ others afraid to join. 'This evil still exists. : though it /has been much,, diminished; ana though the. Department' adopts strict super-, , vision, and malses-the'practice liable to severe' penalties. For the first: offencfe a fine is inflicted /up to the value of £2, and for a second o&nco. the punishment -is dismissal. The principal home- of J "ragging" is the big shops; 1 - . , ■ At various times the Department has had difficulty in obtaining cadets.. Possibly these also have been deterred .by. 1 fear of' "ragging," but there is no scarcity; of, them now. . Not long ago advertisements in the/newspapers for cadets caused only six 1 to conie forward : from' the whole district between Palmerston and New: Plymouth. " The cadets, like other railway : servants,' will benefit by the new Act. Their first salary'will be £50 a year instead of £40. >