RAILWAY AMENDMENT BILL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13902, 1 November 1919, Page 6

RAILWAY AMENDMENT BILL.

THE CLASSIFICATION PROPOSALS (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, October 31. The second reading of the Government Railways Amendment Bill was moved in the House this afternoon by Mr Massey, who said that the clauses of the Bill were mostly of a machinery nature. An'important part of the measure was the schedules, and the feature of these schedules was that the war bonuses previously paid were now becoming a permanent part of the salaries. The total bonuses paid up to date amounted to £494,410, and the Bill would increase the annual expenditure by as nearly as possible £500 ; 000. He referred to the note in the Bill providing for promotion on the basis of merit, which, as the Bill came from the Kailway Committee, had been struck out. He had considerable sympathy with promotion by merit, and he thought we should have come back to that, but he was prepared for that part of the Bill to be eliminated. It was proposed to set up a. board to go into the questions in the railway service, but he desired; to make it clear that the board was not for the present to be permanent. It might become so later on, if the experiment was successful. He paid a tribute to the loyalty of the railway servants during the difficult war period, and then passed on to discuss the question, of higher salaries, contending that if we were going to keep the best brains in the country we must pay the men as well as neighboring States, but he wished to make it clear that the increases proposed were not to be confined to the railway alone. They would be reflected right through all the branches of the public service, because they were based on the recommendations of a board which had been set up to consider the salaries throughout the public service as a whole. Ho trusted that the Bill would result in promoting a better feeling between the railway employees and the State which employed them. Sir Joseph Ward criticised the proposals in the Bill, because the increases given to the higher-paid officers would undulv burden the Superannuation Fund.' Many of these men had the right to retire «t once, and it was cer-t-am that some would retire. Ju tne interests of the Kail way Service they must retire, and yet, on the very eve of their retirement, their salaries were bein<r jumped up, the only effect ot which would be to enable them.to retire on greatlv increased superannuation There has never been such a monstrous proposal in the history' or the Dominion. Mr Massey: Will you move to strilie these salaries out? ~ .„ ~ Sir Joseph Ward: 1 will move doi a reduction in every one of these higher salaries, and I will give every member of the House an opportunity ot expressing an opinion on them Proceeding Sir Joseph Ward declared that these proposals were intended to influence members of the Railway Service in view of the coming election. This statement was warmly repudiated by Mr Massey, as the Bill was prepared long before he became Minister of Railways. _ Sir Joseph Ward said that was not the point. The Prime Minister knew as well as anyone what would influence the men/ He complained that not a word had 'been said jtbout the men of the second division. It was true that the war bonuses had been added to their pav, but still they were not- able to pay their way. Yet there were proposals made to give the higher-paid men enormous increases. He declared that the Prime Minister would have the support of all sides of the House if he brought down a proposal to pay the second division men another bonus Mr Massey: And then you would charge me with electioneering. Sir Joseph Ward replied that if the Prime Minister brought down such -a proposal he would received his (Sir Joseph Ward's) party's support. He next referred to the- wholesale retires ments from the Railway Service. These were, not all due to the war. but unless more consideration was shpwn to the men we were going to have a disorganised Railwav Service. Mr Veiteh: We have that now. Sir Joseph Ward regretted that this Bill had not been brought down earlier, its the Prime Minister would then have got a lead from the House in the directions which he thought- would have improved the. Bill. In Committee he would move as suggested. During the course of his remarks. Mr Wilford declared that- the railways were the "ugly duckling" of the public service. He • proceeded to detail cases of want of appreciation and consideration shown to men in the service by the head office, and to enumerate the pin-pricks men of the second division had to submit to at the hands of officaldom.

Mr T. K. Sidey said that the schedule certainly complied wit lithe agreement made "with the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in March last, but things had moved a long way since March. Then it was hoped that the cost of living would fall; instead, "it had increased, and he thought itwould be a fair compromise if the rates of pay were, fixed the same as in NewSouth Wales. Mr Veitch urged better allowances and chances for men in the service. Some readjustment of the duties of the, head office was required so that the general manger would be able to get into closer personal touch with the staff and the public, who were the Department's clients. The "division"' barrier should be removed and the pensions iin the lower grades improved. Efforts were urgently needed to stem the present tide or resignations of trained men from the railway service. Hon. AV. H. Herries, as ex-Minister of Railways, thought that he would be competent to say something on the Bill. He had assisted in formulating the" schedules of pay and asked if anyone really considered that the high officers in the public service were too highly paid. If ability was wanted it must be paid.for. A goal must be set for the younger men entering service to strive for. If a monetary consideration was not provided the men would not be attracted. He agreed that the system of classification had not produced the best results. It must be radically improved or go. "Classification" had a tendency to produce undemocratic results, in that the administrative officials hesitated to make promotion." not in accordance with strict classification, for fear of inviting suggestions that political pull had been operating. Mr Herries explained at length the negotiations with second division men which preceded the compilation of the schedule in-the Bill. The increase of .wages provided for totalled £500,000 yearly. Better conditions and an eight hour day had been given the men. Touching the policy of the Railway Department during the war, Mr Herries said that it had with other sections of the community endeavored to release every man it could for war service. •• He claimed that the NewZealand Railways Department had fulfilled its duties during the war and showed a better financial result than the railways of any other country. Mr .J. T. M. Hornsby supported the claims of the second division men for better treatment, with special reference to the. housing at Cross Creek. Mr McCallum condemned the Government's railway policy (so far as administration was concerned) as insincere. He considered the increases given to already highly paid officials were notjustified. Mr Holland contrasted the difference In pay as'between the men at the top and those at the bottom. Those higher up should be given no- increases until those below had enough to enable them to live decently. Mr Svkes suggested that the clause providing that a man may be promoted, by reason of special merit- or ability, which was struck out as the result of representations by the second division, should be reinserted, but should apply only to the first division till the effect of the operation was discovered. Mr Vigor Brown declared that the Minister's statement that the railways were paying too well was an argument in favor of increasing the second divisioners' wages. After supper adjournment discussion on the Bill was carried on by various speakers, all of whom urged that more generous consideration be shown to the men of the second division. Up to one o'clock the speakers appealed to the Prime Minister to amend

the schedules in a more generous direction . WELLINGTON. November I. After the Telegraph Office closed Inst night, the discussion on the Railways Bill was carried on by Messrs Marnier, Buddo. Dickie. and Poland. At 2.20 Mr Massey rose to reply, and said that one point, he wislied to make quite clear was that the Bill was based on an arrangement made with the. Railway Service in March last, and there was not a figure in the schedules of this they did not approve. Members' interpolated : "They had not seen the whole of the schedules."

Mr Massey retorted: "They had seen all the schedules in which they were interested." Defending the effect of the Bill on superannuation, he said there was only one officer who could retire at once. Of six officers who were being promoted three cannot retire on the maximum lor live years, one for four years, and one for three years; so that the effects could not he serious. Members had asked tor a bonus for the men in the lower grade. To give them a bonus of a shilling a day would cost £280,000 per annum. It'was quite easy to say, but it must be remembered that no bonus could rest with the Railway Department. If it were given to one branch of the Public Service it must ibe given to all. He quoted figures to show that the average earnings of the men were greater j than the schedule rates because of the better condition brought about by the .Minister of Railways in April last. He compared the increases made by Bill of 1911, which absorbed £22,000, with the increases in the present Bill, contending that his proposals were infinitely better than those of the late Hon. J A. Millar, and in answer to the charges that his Rill was an electioneering move, ho pointed out that the Bill of 1911 was brought down on 25 th October, just before- an election. He then proceeded to reply to the arguments used by individual members, and on the subject of housing he: announced that the Department was arranging to erect 450 houses for employees, seventy of which were to be at. Franklin. He compared payments made in the AustraJian States with New Zealand payments, and in answer to an interjection he said he did not believe any member of the railway staff should be asked to work for a wage on which ho was nob able to pay his way. But the Government was doing its best to meet the position under very exceptional circumstances. He moved the second reading. This was agreed to, and at 2.55 the House went into Committee on the Bill. In clause 2 Mr Holland moved an amendment making the decisions of the Railway Appeal Board final. The Premier said ho was tillable to accept the amendment while »tho Board, was constituted as at present. The Department had no representative! on the Board, and its interest- should be protected.

The Minister of Railways offered to abolish his veto if the Board wore reconstituted so iis to give the Department the same share of representation as the men have. Mr Massey said members hesitated to sanction the abolition of the veto. but. all seemed to. think it should bo exercised in some different way. Sir Joseph Ward suggested that, the power of exercising the veto might be delegated to a Judge, of the Supreme Court. Mr Holland replied that the power might as well be given to the Minister of Labor to veto decisions of the Arbitration Court iis the mainspring of the present system of railway veto. On a division the amendment was lost by 17 to 36. The remaining clauses were passed unamended. Mr Young moved a new clause by which officers of the first division woiild be promoted on the basis of special merit and ability, but the Premier declared that he could not accept it, and Mr Young'did not press it. On the. Question of tlie General Manager's salary of £3OOO Mr Holland moved a reduction of £IOOO. After a brief discussion the amendment was lost by 11 to 4S. Sir Joseph Ward moved a- reduction m the salary of the Assistant General Manager of £I2OO by £1 as an indication that the House is of opinion that members of the second division are entitled to consideration in view of the increases given to members of the first division. Mr Massey said if the amendment were carried he would have no option but to strike out the whole schedule, as it would result in discouraging every officer in the first division. ■ They must pay highly skilled men. He had already stated that he was prepared to consult ins colleagues with regard to doing something for married men of the second division. Mr Ell said the whole trouble was that certain highly-paid officers were having their salaries raised on the eve of retirement, with a. view to loading up the Superannuation Fund. That was what was objected to.

.Sir Joseph Ward said he wished to protest against the higher salries being raised while men of the. second division could not live on the salaries they received. Air Holland said the Labor Party would vote for a .straight-out reduce tion, but would not vote for a £1 'reduction. That was simply camouflage. On a division the amendment was lost by 22 to 31. Tließill was reported without amendment and read a. third time, after a brief discussion, during which Air Alassey said he hoped to be able to make a statement regarding the bonus for second division men before the House rose. The Board he proposed to set up to inquire int6 the wages and working conditions of the railways would be organised with as little delay as possible, and he hoped it would report within three months. The House rose at 6.19 a.Tn. till 7.30 p.m.