OVER 11,000 ON STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18690, 22 April 1924, Page 8

OVER 11,000 ON STRIKE.

BULK OF, SECOND DIVISION. THE LARGEST INDUSTRY, CAPITAL OF £40,000,000, WAGES BILL OF £3,500,000. * The strike disorganises the largest industry in the Dominion. Capital invested in lines operated by the Railway Department exceeds £40,000,000 , and, according to an official return presented to the recent Wages Board,.the employees numbered 16.435 last month. The signi ficance of these figures may he illustrated by comparison with the latest enumeration of the Dominion's industries. This shows that the, value of land, buildings, plant and machinery engaged in industrial manufacture "was £44,000,000 whila the- employees numbered 73,662. The railway service comprises nearly one-third of the total number of State employees— 16,435 out of 53,163.

The number of railwaymen nulled out on strike may be estimated at 11,000 to 12,000. There are about 2650 men m the first division and slightly over 2000 of the second division in the separate organisation of drivers, ' firemen • and cleaners. Employees in the traffic, maintenance, stores and workshops branches are all in the membership of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants.

The railway system comprises 3063 miles, 1312 miles in the North Island and 1741 miles in the South Island. Its services are maintained with a rolling stock comprising 650 locomotives, 1500 passenger cars and 27,000 goods waggons. It carries about i4 J 250,000 passengers and 6,250,000 tons of goods of all descriptions in a year. The wages bill in 1922-23 absorbed 51 per cent, of the gross revenue. Earnings were £6,727,802 and wages were £3,448,942. So heavy were the working expenses that tho profit* fell short by £284,385 of the amount required to pay the policy rate of interest, 3J per cent., on the capital investment.