RAILWAYMEN'S WAGES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17100, 24 February 1916, Page 9

RAILWAYMEN'S WAGES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I consider it very. selfish' of. the .railwayman to be asking f.9 1 " au lu " crease of 2s per day at this time, when there' is such,-a terrible war on and the country involved' in . such debt. - It would be much better if onehalf of the young railwayman enlisted- and let older men or men‘under the militaryage fake their places:. Of their five ’thousand members surely two or three thousand of. the younger nibn could be released to go on active service. The railwaymen do not consider, bow the soldiers away fighting for them are only getting four or five* shillings per day, and lots of them have families of six and seven, children to support. As the outcry of. the railwaymen is the . increased cost of living, all other trades will ask for .more if the railwaymen get an advance. Mostly all the railway men paint: their own . houses, do their own carpentering and’boot repairing. How do they think this class of tradesman will manage to make a. living when they grab for high wages and then do the small tradesman out of his lawful bit of work? I know gardeners, painters, and bricklayers who do not average 3.0 s per week, yet we do not hear them murmur. It is the ones in regular work' who are first' to squefiki ■ ’FsinCbrelv hope the Minister of Railways- willTreduce,the railway, pay ■in place of raising it. If the railwaymen get more you .will have all .the other Government employees asking for an increase, and goodness knows where it. would stoo. —1 am, etc., OLIVER TAVIST,