THE CONCESSIONS TO RAILWAY SERVANTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1900, 3 July 1890, Page 30

THE CONCESSIONS TO RAILWAY SERVANTS.

Mr Edwards, general secretary of the Railway Servants' Society, informed a Press reporter that perhaps the greatest benefit will be to the traffic and locomotive departments, in both of which the men had to work many hours without receiving a penny overtime. The traffic men had to work from midnight to midnight so long as trains were advised to run, an 1 for doing that they would receive nothing, except perhaps a day off, for weeks of overtime. It might be presumed that the reforms, when fully brought about, would result in the employment of from 1000 to 1500 more men, and the commissioners reckoned that the additional expense would be from £40,000 to £50,000 a year. Mr Edwards believes that the service could be efficiently worked so that the additional cost would not reach that sum. It would give greater satisfaction, and far wider-reaching benefits, were men employed during the hours that were now simply overtime, and this result would come about under the system of 48 hours per week regular and 54 hours per week intermittent labour. Then again the Government would not bo put to much greater expense, because indirectly they would be benefited by the change. The additional men would mean additional colonists, whose permanent homes would be here, and who would have to bear their share of taxation through the Customs. In this way the Government would indireotly receive a large part back of the money expended in improving the railway service and benefiting the whole community. Of course it would take time to bring about the reforms, ns in the looomotive department they had not tbe men to make tho change at once, aud, besides, the commissioners would have to train up employes in order that the sytem m&y be efficiently carried out. However, they have promised to gradually bring in tbe improvements from July 20.