The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1889. RAILWAY EMPLOYES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1971, 19 November 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1889. RAILWAY EMPLOYES.

We have received a copy of the Railway Employes Insurance Bill, comcernmg which a great deal has been heard lately. Its main provisions are that no one shall henceforth enter the service of the railway as a permanent officer until he has passed a medical examination, but officers who have been in the service for not less than three years previous to the passing of the Act will not be required to procure a medical certificate. No one over the age of 21 years will, after the passing of the Act, be appointed without paying such a premium as shall be fixed by the Government actuary. This premium shall be paid into the insurance fund, besides all fines and penalties levied on employes, which have hitherto accrued, or shall accrue hereafter, together with payments which shall be made by all employes, as follows —Men whose pay does not exceed 7s per day must pay 2s per week into the fund, and men whose pay exceeds 7s per week must pay for each shilling they get per day fourpence per week. Thus men in receipt of 9s per day would have to pay 3s per week, and so on. The benefits to be derived are as follows:—Any employe discharged for incapacity through an accident, or on account of old age, or illhealth, will receive, if he has been less than 20 years in the service, i one-fourth his usual rate of wages, If

he has been in the service over 20 years, and has attained the age of 65 years, he shall he entitled to one-third of his wages for the remainder of his life. Any one leaving the service without permission, or he dismissed for any reason, shall not be entitled to anything at all. This appears to us to he the most monstrous proposal ever made. It is beautifully devised to enslave and defraud the railway employes. Let us take, for instance, a man who has worked for the railway for 10 years at 9s per day, and has paid into this insurance fund during that time 3s per week, or a total of £7B. That money is his; yet if he finds an opportunity of improving his position he cannot leave the service without losing it all. Then let us suppose that he was dismissed; is it not disgraceful to defraud him of it? This proposal opens the door to absolute tyranny and confiscation of men’s earnings. It would be possible under this proposal to let men work on for years, and then dismiss them without a penny. This proposal, at any rate, is outrageous, Wecannotimaginehowany one in a sane state of mind could have made it. Let us next take a man who enters the service at 21 years of age, and works at 9s per day until he has reached the retiring age of 65 years, paying 3s per week during the whole time, and that he then dies, how much are his relatives entitled to ? Simply one year’s pay; that is, £l4O. He paid £343 into the fund, and his relatives only get hack £l4O, That looks much like a swindle, and it is compared with what other insurance companies pay. If that man paid his money into the Government insurance office his relatives would be entitled to about £BOO, or perhaps £IOOO. Now why is it that the Railway Insurance could not be managed more econemically than any | other office ? There would he no canvassers required, no advertising, no printing, no officers, with the exception of a clerk or two. Why, therefore, are the premiums about four times as large as those fixed by other offices, and the results probably net more than one-tenth what can he secured elsewhere ? It appears to us that the answer lies in the fact that men who have grown grey in the service, and must retire in a few years are placed on a more favorable footing than men entering the service just now. Eor instance, let us suppose this precious measure became law, and 12 mouths afterwards two men were killed in an accident. Both had been paying into the fund for 12 months, and consequently one would think that in such a case both would stand on an equal footing. As regards compensation they would of course be equal if both of them had entered the service together, but if one of them happened to be an old employe of 20 years standing, and the other has been only 12 months in the service, the relatives of the former would get one year’s pay, while the relatives of the latter would only get one month’s pay. That is manifestly unjust, both paid the same amount into the fund, and in common honesty, the advantages ought to be the same. This is a monstrous proposal too, but the whole secret of the bill is hidden beneath the surface of this wrong. Men who were in the employment of the railways at the time the Commissioners took possession of them, are entitled by Act of Parliament to compensation for loss of office, or to a superannuation allowance. The object is to do away with this, and make the now men now entering the service pay the old hands their retiring allowance. It comes to this; and it is certainly a monstrous idea. It is because of this the scale of charges are placed so high, and high though they are we doubt whether they would meet the case. There are large numbers of old servants bordering on the retiring age now; very soon these will have to retire, and thus a heavy, burden would he placed immediately on the insurance fund. We have no hesitation in saying that the measure is a dishonestly conceived one. We sympathise entirely with the Government employes insuring their lives, and making provision for their old age, but the proposals in this measure are not honest. They simply aim at blackmailing the new hands entering the service, so as to provide a retiring allowance for the old hands, and relieve the Government of doing so. One effect the measure has had already. We have always said that thorough-going.tyrants are preferable to good-natured half-and-half sort of i people. The evidently dishonest and i tyrannical intentions manifested by the Commissioners in this measure, and in other things, have aroused the employes throughout the colony, and now they are forming unions everywhere in order to protect their own interests. This union is now pretty well completed, and Messrs Maxwell and Co. will find before long festering on their own limbs the gyves and fetters they thought of forging for the employes. A union of ■ all the railway employes throughout | the colony can make slaves of the , Commissioners any moment they like, i This has been brought about by the j Commissioners, together with many other senseless innovations, and the < result will probably be serious to the < working of the railways before long. 1