RAILWAY V. POST AND TELEGRAPH.

Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13169, 27 July 1911, Page 3

RAILWAY V. POST AND TELEGRAPH.

SALARIES COMPARED

[United Press Association.]

Dunecfin, July 26. The conference of delegates of tlio Railway Officers' Institute, which recently sat at Dunedin, formulated grievances of the fiat grade, and have embodied these in a petition to Parliament. Among the clauses are- the following : That positions in the railway service wllich have been reduced in status during the last few years, shall bo restored and that the Act be amended so as to provide that railway officers shall not bo less efficiently remunerated than officers of the Post and Telegraph Department; that notwithstanding the fact that-the tralfie on railways has increased considerably during the last few years, the Department is in many instances requi."ng o!'iwrs of v lower grade to perform the duties and to accept the responsibilities of officers in a higher grade at lower rate of remuneration than-payable to the higher _ grade, consequently efficient officers with 1( ng and faithful service are deprived by the- Department of the promotion to which they are rightly entitled, thus causing dissatisfaction and unrest amongst officers who feel that the Department is not carrying out the spirit intended in the Act; that railway oili cers shall receive the same, anrriial leave as officers of tho Post and T«-,t-jriipi' I'tpartment, and that si.'k leave shall not be deducted from arm:;,! leave, or in the alternative that iV!way officers receive the same annuu leave, the same sick leave, and the sin"'l- payment for overtime as officers of the Post aiul Telegraph ])opurttvh ut; that railway officers be paid Jor nil will performed on Sun i -ys nt tho same rates as those paid to rincavs in the Post and Telegraph Department; that the Act be amended so as to provido that the Department and officers be equally represented on the Appal Board; that th© Board be presided over by a judge of the Supreme.Court, and that the decisions of tho Board shall be final. A schedule 0 attached to the petition gives an interesting comparison of the salaries paid to a number of officers in-the Post and Telegraph Department witli those paid to officers in the Railway [Department, occupying equally responsible positions. This table was compiled from departmental re : ports submitted to Parliament last session. The telegraph engineer af Dunedin receives a maximum salary of £600, whereas tho maximum salary of th 0 district engineer of railways in Dunedin is £525. The maximum salary of the Chief Postmaster in Invercargill and also in Wanganui, is £525, while that of the traffic manager of railways for the same districts is £450. Officers in charge of principal telegraph offices receive up to £475, whilst the maximum salaries of city traffic clerks, station-masters, workshop foremen, and locomotive foremen range from £400 down to £300. Assistant postmasters are graded at a maximum salary of £425, also assistant-inspec-tors, whilst in railway service stores, audit and traffic audit inspectors are given a maximum of £355. Numerous other parallels are given, the advantage in each instance being against the railway officers. .