DANGERS TO SHUNTERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 177, 30 June 1925, Page 7

DANGERS TO SHUNTERS

POSITION TO BE IMPROVED. PRIME MINISTER’S PROMISE. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 29. During the proceedings in the House of Representatives this evening Mr Fraser brought under notice the risks under which railway shunters performed their daily duties. The number of accidents to shunters recently, he said, had been alarming, and it has been represented to him that many of the railway yards were in a congested and badly lighted condition, and that the men were asked to do most dangerous work tinder circumstances which were intolerable. These matters, he said, should be investigated. Sir John Luke said he thought the shunters had made out a good case in many respects, but the whole question v as before the House and he had no doubt the Government would set the necessary inquiries afoot and take such steps as would preserve the lives and limbs of the men. He would like to see an open, not a merely departmental inquiry. Mr Howard complained that many of the conditions at the. Addington railway workshops were a disgrace to the Dominion. Men, he said, were being poisoned by machines worked by producer gas, while electrical machines were standing idle alongside them.

Messrs Mcllvride and Smith put in a plea for the railway shunters, but tho latter condemned the proposal to furnish shunters with gum boots in wet weather. These, he said, would only hamper the shunters. What was required was more efficient drainage of the railway yards. The Prime Minister said lie was determined to give the railway employees the best possible, conditions, it being generally agreed that tho shunters’ employment was dangerous and that fact had not been overlooked. In view of the recent accidents a special board of experts had been set up to go into all questions affecting shunters. They knew that all the railway vards in New Zealand were not satisfactory, and they were going thoroughly into all the questions of tho lay out, formation, lighting points, etc., which would make the yards right up-to-date. They were by no means satisfied with the position, but it was tho position as they found it, and he was determined to improve it though it would take some time and a lot of money to do it. He admitted that the railway shops in New Zealand were not up-to-date. They were losing about £200,000 annually on I them. His desire ' was to remodel them and to give the men the most modern appliances to work with.