RAILWAYS AND LABOUR

Otago Witness, Issue 3352, 12 June 1918, Page 5

RAILWAYS AND LABOUR

EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. Referring to the curtailment of railway services gen sr ally and the supply of labour available, when replying in Auckland to a deputation from the northern suburban area,; iho Minister of Railways (the lion. W. H. Hemes) said that his,opinion, and certainly the opinion of .Cabinet, was that the Railway Department should send as many men as possible to tho front, even if it would inconvenience people or cause them loss. There was an urgent need at the_ front for men, and if ho were asked to still further reduce the railway service he would not shrink from doing so. Mi- C. J. Parr, M.P., who introduced the deputation, said there were many superannuated men who would serve _ again if approached. Ho hoped the Minister was not hinting that the slight extension of suburban services which was made recently was again to be curtailed. If so, it would mean tho exodus of a largo number of people from the country to the crowded city areas. Ho failed to seo that even the exigencies of the war should bring about a step of this kind. He believed the curtailing of suburban services was a gigantic mistake. Mr Hemes replied that the department had written to every superannuated man who had left the service asking him to return. Many had done so. Returned soldiers who had been in the service before they went away were also wanted back. The trouble was that many of the latter had been so incapacitated that they were unfit for further service on the railways. A member of the deputation suggested that women should be employed as guards and porters, as was the case in Britain.

The Minister said that at Home a very large staff of porters was required to open carriages, etc., and work of this kind could be done by women; but a different system was in vogue in New Zealand, where such a largo staff of porters 'was not required. Porters in New Zealand had to act as shunters, etc., and this work was not suitable for women. The department, however, was alive to the fact that there were certain classes of work in which women could be employed. The dining cars, with their mala staffs, had been discontinued, and largo staffs of waitresses were employed at the railway dining rooms established in their place. Women were also employed in carriage cleaning, etc. It was not feasible to employ women as guards, for in the case of accidents trained men would bo an absolute necessity. The Minister addedthat from the railway service of the dominion some 7000 men had gone to the front, and the service was now nearly 4000 short of its complement. Under these circumstances some curtailment had to be made, but the convenience of travellers had been, studied as much as possible.