STAFF OF THE RAILWAYS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19798, 19 November 1927, Page 13

STAFF OF THE RAILWAYS

ADMINISTRATION CHANGES. THE METHOD OF PROMOTION. APPEAL BOARD CONSTITUTION. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTEE.] WELLINGTON, Friday. New staff administration provisions, including tbo right to promote by efficiency rather than by seniority, are contained in the Government Railways Bill, which has been referred to the Railways Committee of the House. Appointments carrying a salary over £765 are to be made by the GovernorGeneral, while every other appointment is to be made by the Minister of Railways. Provision is made for transferring officers from other departments to the Railways Department, and also for the filling of positions by the transfer of officers already in the department. In the latter connection efficiency is to be the governing factor. In the event of there being two or more applicants preference is to be given to the member considered by the appointing authority to be the most efficient and suitable. Where the efficiency is equal the decision will be determined by seniority. Tho relative efficiency of two or more members is to b<i determined by reference to their special qualifications and aptitude for the discharge of the duties, together with merit, diligence and good conduct. Provision is included for the right of appeal, and as a consequence . appointment by transfer is to bo provisional pending , the result of appeals. Another portion of the bill provides for the periodical regrading of positions and officers of the First Division. The first reclassification is to be made on or before April 1, 1929, and subsequent regradings at five-yearly intervals. An appeal board consisting of a chairman appointed by the Governor-General, an officer of the department appointed by the Minister, an elected member of the First Division, and four members representing the workshops, locomotive, traffic and maintenance branches of the Second Division, is to be constituted, and. its decision will be final. Members representing the two divisions are to sit only where appeals concerning their own divisions are being heard. Fourteen days notice is to be given of intention to appeal. An attempt to influence the appeal board is to be an offence punishable by a fiue up to £SO, and liability to unmediate dismissal following conviction. The bill provides that, subject to the approval of the Minister of Railways, the secretaries of the various railway organisations may, at the termination of,their periods of engagement, be permanently reappointed to the service at their former salary, with the right to have their service as secretary counted for superannuation purposes. . Amendments to the principal Act propose that the Working Railways Account, and not the Consolidated Fund, will provide the payment of increased benefits to widows and children of deceased superannuitants. Where deficiencies exist in the superannuation fund they will in future be met out of the Working Railways Account and not th® Consolidated Fund.