RAILWAY CARRIAGES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3954, 24 December 1929, Page 65

RAILWAY CARRIAGES.

SEATING ACCOMMODATION. IMPR OVE Al ENTS OUTLIN ED. The Afinister of Railways (Mr W. B. Taverner) stated on Tuesday that he had recognised for some time that there was considerable room for improvement in the seating provided in railway carriages, particularly as the public demand in the matter of comfort in transport has risen so much in recent years. “ Immediately following the Christmas holidays the work of making the seating accommodation in the railway carriages of the South Island more comfortable will be put in hand,” said the Minister. “ All the first class cars now fitted with the old type of seating will be supplied with seats of the best standard at present in use in New Zealand. An improvement in their appearance will also be effected by up bolstering them in antique red leather. “The work, for which an expenditure of £7OOO has been authorised, aims particularly at an improvement in the second class seating accommodation. Longi tudinal or ‘ bench ’ seats will be done away with altogether, and the second class cars will be fitted with a ‘ tip-over ’ type of seat, known as the ‘ Searratt,’ at present used in the North Island for first class suburban cars. “ When composite cars arc in use—that is, cars with half first class and hal f second class accommodation—the first class compartment will become the second class, and the present second class or bcnch-scatcd compartment will become the first class, after being fitted with the standard first class seats.”

Air Taverner added that it was hoped to have sufficient cars re-seated by Easter time to provide for the express services. Air Taverner went on to state that the work of transferring the large numbers of railway employees in the South Island who were affected by the Workshops re building and reorganisation programme is now practically completed. Sixty-six employees (including 40 married men) have been transferred from Hillside (Dunedin) to Addington (Christchurch), while 176 employees fron. Addington (of whom 98 are mar tied) have been placed at Hillside. There remain only six more men to be trans ferrod from Addington to Hillside to com plete the South Island restaffing programme. It will thus be seen that Dunedin has made a net gain of over 100 in the readjustment of staff occasioned by the concentration of locomotive construction and repair work at Hillside. The transfers to Addington were due to the rearrangement under which the main car building and vehicle repair work for the South Island is concentrated in Canterbury, the engine wo’’ 1 * being concentrated at Hillside. “ Alembcrs of the staffs at these work shops were consulted when the scheme of transfers was developed,” said Mr Taverner, “and, thanks to the carefulinvestigation undertaken and assistance rendered by the workshops committees set up to help the department in carrying out the work, the big job was pnt through with a minimum of inconvenience and hardship upon the men concerned.” Where necessary the department provided housing accommodation for the transferred members and their families. The totals of staff now employed at these workshops are :—Hillside 799, Addington 774. The Hillside figures in elude 348 casual employees, of whom 96 have been engaged under the scheme for the relief of unemployment. The Addington figures include 332 casuals, and 84 of these are employed under the Government relief scheme.