RAILWAY EMPLOYEES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 9 January 1942, Page 6

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES

ARMY SERVICE DEFERRED Hamilton, Jan. 8. When the New Zealand Railway De- ; partment appealed against military service for 78 employees, a special meeting 1 of the Hamilton District Manpower I Committee was held last night to hear 1 representatives of the department from j Auckland. Sixty-seven of Hie men were , required for the Territorial Foice and 11 for the National Military Reserve, j The department’s officers said many j men had already been released for ! active service, and appeals lodged just j before Christmas for a lai’ge number of men called up had been withdrawn ! because of the serious need of men for the armed forces. However, the position [ had now been reached that, if the men j now called were released, it was felt! that the efficient and safe running of the trains would be imperilled. The committee decided to grant sine j die adjournments in all cases. OTAHUHU WORKSHOPS MEN TOTAL OF 120 INVOLVED Pukekohe, Jan. 8. On behalf of tho Railway Depart- i j ment, the works manager at the! I Otahuhu Railway Workshops. Mr F. W. Horrobin, appealed before the Auckland Area Manpower Committee at Pukekohe to-night for exemption for the employees at the workshops called up in the general mobilisation, which takes place at the end of the week. The appeal covered 120 members of the staff who have been called up j as Territorials and 17 members of the ' National Military Reserve. Mr Horrobin gave evidence that in j addition to the maintenance work on ; the railway rolling stock, the works I were engaged in filling urgent Army ! orders. As the maintenance of an J efficient railway transport system was , an essential in defence, it could be con-| j sidered that the whole operation of the workshops lepi’esented a war effort. j 1 Before the war, continued Mr Hor- ; robin, the staff had numbered some j : 1900 men. It was now down to 1400. : To cope with the work, the mill was j : now working 22 hours out of the 24. j | and the machine shop 20 hours daily, j ! which were to be increased to 24 next w eek. The committee decided to take time to go into the case of each man. In the meantime, it required only one employee, who held the rank of secondlieutenant.. to report for duty under the mobilisation order.—P.A.

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