RAILWAY BOARD

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 147, 23 June 1924, Page 8

RAILWAY BOARD

MINOR MATTERS CONSIDERED.

The Railway Inquiry Board, at present sitting in Wellington, has now reached the clearing-up stage, and is considering more or less minor remits that have been passed over during the hearing of the main questions.

The A.S.R.S. representative (Mr. W. Connelly) this morning asked the hoard to consider granting suburban workers, those within about 20 miles of the four main centres, a weekly half-holiday on Saturdays, instead of the full day off or two days of! per month as decided, enabling the men near-the main sports centres to make the best use of their time off.

Mr. H. H. Sterling, for the Department submitted that there was considerable difficulty in denning the areas in which the half-holidays should be allowed, and the dagger of the lines being left without supervision from the long period of a day and a-half from noon on. Saturday until Monday morning. In connection with the appeal that sawmill, house factory, and refreshmentroom employees should be classified and admitted to the superannuation and other benefits, the departmental view was that these employees were not really railway employees, and few of them remained any. time in the service. Mr. Connelly said the reason for the short time worked was that the employees had no permanency of employment.

Tligvo was some discussion on the status oE men engaged as casual hands who are, under the regulations, prevented from bicoming permanent hands.The A.S.R.S. asked that the status of casual hands should be considered, with a view to having them placed on the permanent staff after five years' service. Mr. Connelly submitted that a man in the traffic department after five years' casual service must be of some value to the Department, and they must be efficient or the Department" would not keep them. They failed under these circumstances to see why a- man should not be placed on the permanent staff. They got no benefits whatever, and it was particularly desired that they should be given the right of appeal against promotions and dismissals. It was another case of too much red tape. Provided the man was physically fit he should have the right to appointment. Mr. _ Sterling said this involved the provision of a backdoor entrance to the railway, service. The position was that applicants had to pass certain tests. There were men who remained for fairly extensive periods in the service without being able to pass one or, the other of these tests. They could not legislate for every case.

Mr. Justice Fraser: "He becomes what we call a permanent casual?" • Mr. ,Scott (member ; of the Court): "This position is one that is very seriously criticised by the public." Mr. Sterling said they sometimes could not pass a man, because of some defect affecting his eligibility for superannuation. They could see no reason, however, why a man should be "sacked" if he wanted to stay on in spite of not being made permanent. He said that in the locomotive department men were sometimes, in fact, usually, appointed to the permanent staff after three years, but these men came in knowing something of their trade. In the case of the traffic department, the age limit of 28 or 34 as the ease might be was high enough at which to commence teaching a man a new occupation. . . „ ...

(Proceeding.)