SHUNTING RISKS

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 10 July 1925, Page 5

SHUNTING RISKS

PROPOSED INQUIRY. PERSONNEL OF BOARD. A MEMBER’S CRITICISM. (By Telegraph.—Special to Star.) WELLINGTON, July 9. Mr Sullivan, member for Avon, asked the Prime Minister in the House this afternoon whether it was a fact that the request of the A.S.R.S. for an entirely independent board to inquire into the grievances of shunters and. the condition<j of their work, or as an alternative, a board consisting of equal representatives of the department and society, had been disregarded; whether it was true, as reported, that a board had been set up consisting of the Traffic Manager at Wanganui and the Assistant Engineer at Auckland, with a shunter to be selected by the Minister. This was the report circulated among shunters, said Mr Sullivan. They would be very much disappointed if e uch were the position. He asked whether the Minister would reconsider the matter of appointing a tribuna] as suggested by the. A.S.R.S, The Prime Minister said that the reCort was correct, and a tribunal had een set up with the personnel named. It was a departmental inquiry, and a public inquiry would not serve any useful purpose. As it was a matter directly affecting railway workmen, one member of the tribunal was selected for his ’ technical knowledge, one for his traffic knowledge, and one for his practical knowledge of shunting. The board would thoroughly investigate tne matter of shunting accidents, to see if arrangements could not be made to lessen the danger, to increase efficiency, and to make it easier for the men to do that ohass of work. “We have no quarrel with the A.5.R.5.,” observed the Minister. Mr Sullivan: “Why not allow the A.S.R.S. to select the shunter to sit on the board?” Mr Coates: “The A.S.R.S. does not conduct the railways, and this is a departmental matter.” Mr Sullivan: “The A.S.R.S. is much converned about the lives of shunters.” Mr Coates (warmly): “No more concerned than I am or the Government, generally. There i s none more concerned than the government and Ministers.”