THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 49, 27 February 1908, Page 7

THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

AMALGAMATED SOCIETY'S CONFERENCE. The biennial conference of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants is being held in the Foresters' Hall, Lamb-ton-quay. The meeting started this morning ; Mr. Jamrs Walker (president) in the chair, and Mr. W. J. Edwards (general secretary) is in charge of the business arrangements. The following delegates were present : — Messrs. Mack and Beck, Auckland; Crawford, Napier; Lee and Moore, Wellington ; Legrange and Wilson, Palmerston North"; Vcitch and Smith, Wanganui ; Dawson and Cameron, Christchurch ; Robertson, Timaru ; M'Nab, Oamaru ; Hanrahn and BaiTy, Dunedin ; Thomas and flutchins, Invercargill ; O'Donnell and Witham, West Coast. The biennial report shows that the mem' borship of the society is 5836, as against 4003 two years ago, or an increase of 1853. Membership of the death fund, the xeport continued, has decreased in the same period from 325 to 152, and probably before the advent of next conference it will havo passed out of existenco. A total of 196 members upon the fund have died since its inception. The period under review has been a recoid one for the establishment of new branches, no less than eight having been opened, namely, Upper Hutt, Waipukurau, Woodville, Frankton, Masterton, Hawera, Tnihape, and Paeroa. The practical work of tlie society has been exceedingly successful in the direction of improving service conditions. Prior to tho assembling of the last session of Parliament the executive submitted certain requirements as to increases in pay to tho Minister for Railways, and the thanks of the members of the service are due to the Premier, Sir Joseph Ward, for the very liboial manner in which ho met the society. Among the items dealt with by the executive, apart from the improvements in the Classification Act, may bo mentioned ths successful levelling up in a greater measure of the Manawatu Company's men to the wage enjoyed by the Government men. The early "merging of this private line into the * State-owned railways is anticipated. The president, in opening tho proceedings, delivered aii/addrcss recapitulating the woric done by the executive and reviewing the position of the society. The agenda paper is a very bulky document, and contains some 2bO references from different branches of the society for adoption by the conference and for transmission, if passed, to tho Minister for Railways and tho general manager, with the view of improving the position of memberd of the service and rectifying anomalies. A oonsideiablc number of tho references will not, however, be moved because they luivc already been covered by the passing of the last Railways Classification AcL