NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 192, 8 May 1908, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS.

hours 5f labour'. ' -• : ( BI TELF.GEAPH.-SrECIAL : COERESp||i-DENT;) Christohuioh, May 7. ; In conversation with a representative'.'of i tup Clirisfchurch " PressatTimaru,;, two 'i railway officials of considerable experience stated, in reply to a question as to whether ! the Victorian railway disaster had a lesson . for New Zealand, that there was very little ! to complain of on the New Zealand railways i now. : ." v • " We_;nsed, to; hold ' the belt 1 at; one time," . they said,; 'I'for. dangerous tracts' and' conditions of yorking, - but (things have' improved greatly of late years. The conditions were not ideal, but taking into consideration: the exigencies of tho traffic, they' were about as good as I 'could be expected. ' As, to hours of labour in-New Zealand, they tried to limit the day fo twelvo '■ hours at;the outside, and' it .was .only on exceptional > occasions .that this length-: of time lor continuous^duty was exceeded, ; at'holiday i neS ' special work-liad to be done.. There.were cases of: hardship on some oi the'branch 'oouiitry;lines,' but;.these could not very well bo : avoided—eases where the driver, fireman, and guard nad'tostart their day s work at a quarter to six in tlio morning and finish up at about a quartor past sovon at night. They believed long hours prevailed on one or two short lines m Canterbury, and in the case of the TimaruOamaru train the guard, driver, and fireman put in a twelve-holir day or ' thoreabouts. This train leaves Timaru shortly after 7 a.m., ■ arrives at Oamaru.at about 11' a.m.,, and tlio driver returns oil tho 7 o'clock express at night. Whon the guard and drivor are away all day in this way they are not working .all tlio time, but they aro on duty, and being a-wa.v'from home tho spare time the? have is little or 110 good to them. 'In'some ' parts of tho North Island oil branch lines ' thero are men, the reporter was .informed, ) putting in sixteen hours a day. Very often, S in order to expedite business, risks woro taken oil tlio New Zealand railways at times, and the officials who would not take then! ® would be considered not up to their work. - But tho officials were not so overworked hero as to incapacitate them for their duties.