RAILWAY EMPLOYEES' WAGES. SHALL THEY BE PAID MONTHLY

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 48, 25 August 1904, Page 5

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES' WAGES. SHALL THEY BE PAID MONTHLY

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER. The Minister for Railways last nighd received a deputation representing the! employees in the railway workshops of the colony. The deputation was accompanied by Messrs. Wilford, Witty, Willis, Wood, Sidey, Lewis, Lawry, Kidd, Pishei-, Field, and Davey, M.H.R.'s. Mr. J. Leadbeater acted an spokesman. Mr. Wilford introduced the depuattion, which liad come to urge on the Minister the desirableness of paying the wages to workshop employees every fortnight in« stead of every month. He explained that' the deputation, consisting of Petone men, was instructed to act for the railway; " Workshops throughout New Zealand. Mr. Loidbeater, after saying that the de* put&tion had been appointed as the resulti of a meeting of the Petone employees on 6th July last, urged that under th« monthly system employees were unable to take advantage of the discount given by shopkeepers for cash. It was estimated that they would save 2£ per cent, if pawl more frequently,, and as there were 300 employees at the Petone shops at an. average wage of £3 a week, the employees lost over £22 through the monthly, payment. When the employees had on other occasions urged the point that the deputation was then urging, it had bees objected that a change to fortnightly ok weekly payments would entail great additional expense, btrt as against this, it waa pointed out that many large establishments employing nearly as many hands as were at the Petone workshops paid their employees weekly. Another argu- - ment employed by Mr. Leadbeater was the opportunity which ' the Government had of setting a good example t* private employers. There had been a great many concessions to farmers of late years, and if the country was so prosper--ons as to justify these concessions, th« least the Government could .do was, to> grant concessions to its employees also. In addition to a. man being able to buy gcods cheaper by paying cash, it had been found that landlords were averse to letting houses to monthly tenants. Th« railways were paying well, and if tha Minister made up his mind to give the employees what they asked for they would get it. Mr.' Wilford asked that, if the Gov« eminent could not grant the previously made request for an increase in the labourers wage of 7s a day, it should! grant the presen^ request as being at least some relief. ,■ Mr. Willis urged that if it were right to enforce rules that private employers' should pay their employees weekly, it wan also right that the Government should pay weekly. Messrs. Woods, Davey, and Lawry also supported the deputation's request. Mr. Sidey mentioned that he had never heard of an Court award in which the employers were permitted to pay wages at such long intervals as a. month. The State should bo a model employer. In endorsing the deputation's spokesman, Mr. Laurenson suggested that .the Governmejit should sea its way clear to give the labourers a minimum wage of 8s per day after a certain term of service. Replying, the Minister admitted tha force of the arguments adduced by the speakers, and he stated that his owe. sympathies were entirely in the direction in which the employees were working. The Government and Parliament and peo» pie were anxious to see the railway employees receiving a fair wage. The question was being tackled, however, and ho hoped to be able to make some communi- ' cation to the men regarding on incre&so in the labourers' wages. He did noi think it possible to have a universal standard of wages for all railway men, but he hoped something might bo dorm in the oase of men who had seen a reasv onablo term of service. He hoped ho would have a favourable communication to make on this p*oint. .Regarding tho change in the system of paying wagetr he said that if the- fort-nightly system could be confined to the workshop employees he would be prepared to autho* rise it to-morrow. The question would bo gone into in order to see if it wouMl be necessary to make the fortnightly system apply generally. He thought thafc the better paid classes of employee* would not object to seeing their lower paid brethren receive their wages more frequently. He would go into the mat. ter again, and even if the proposed sys» tern were a little more expensive, ho would favour that extra expense. Dur« ing the next fortnight he would consult) his colleagues, and he assured the depute* tion that all his colleagues would look with favour on the proposal. The difficulty was one of accountancy. The deputation expressed its thanks t« the Minister for his encouraging reply.

There was a very large attendance la« 4 night at Mr. A. Fielding's " social," held at the Victoria Hall, fully ninety couplet being present. The chief item of th« evening was the cakewalk challenge between Mr. C. Collins, the amateur cham pion and Mr. H. Scoonos, the challenger. Mr. Scoones won a-fter a very close cop. test. The waltzing competition was won by Mr. Northwood and Mrs. Rowell. There was also a cakewalk exhibition by the juvenile champion cakewalker. Tho following also contributed items: Mise Rainford, Mrs. Northwood, Mr. Bellryn, and Mr. Collins. The management wa« in die hands of Mrs. Foley. Mr. H. Scoones was master of ceremonies, Mr ' H. Chivers supplied the music, and Mr. J. Bennet acted as secretary. No fewer than 8000 sheets of foolscap were used in taking the evidence in a long-dimvn Native Land Court case i» the Bay of Plenty district.