WELLINGTON AND MANAWATU RAILWAY COMPANY.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 119, 15 November 1902, Page 7 (Supplement)

WELLINGTON AND MANAWATU RAILWAY COMPANY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir — I see by your issue of the 21st that the directors of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company passed a resolution at their meeting on the 20th recommending the declaration of a bonus at 'the next annual meeting in April, 1903, of two shillings per share from the undivided profits of the company, in addition to any dividend which may be then declared. Now, is it right, when a number of their employees do not receive the same rate of wages as Government employees? The permanent way men who are employed above Paikakariki get 6s 6d per day, while aH such employees on the Government lines receive seven shillings. It is a well known fact that the company's men have to work harder, as those in charge don'b want any "Government stroke," as they call it. Hoping that some of the shareholders will make a stand and not allow the above resolution to pass until all employees are paid the same wages as the Government mefa, I am, etc., AN EMPLOYEE. 27th October, 1902.

The Registrar-General's return of vital statistics for October shows that the number of births in the four chief cities of the colony, with their suburbs, during the month, were as follows : — Auckland, 138; Wellington, 123; Christchurch, .106 ; Dunedin, 117. The deaths in the same period, with the proportion per thousand of population, were : — Auckland, 70, 1.37 ; Wellington, 69, 1.40; Christchurch, 36, 0.78; Dunedin, U, 0.82. The total births were 484, an increase of 35 on the number in September; and the deaths were 219, 22 fewer than in the previous month. Eighty-three of the deaths, being 37.90 per cent., were of children under five years of age. Specific febrile and zymotic diseases were exceptionally- .fatal during the month,- causing 50 deaths, against 25 in September. Thirty-three out of the 50 deaths were due to measles, and of these 24 were registered in Wellington. Cancer caused 14 deaths, and phthisis 13. Wade's Worm Figs— the Wonderful Worm Worriers — are a safe and sure remedy, in Is boxes : sold everywhere. — Advt