THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13395, 19 September 1907, Page 3

THE RAILWAY SERVICE.

QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE. Special—Bv Telegraph. WELLINGTON, September 18. The railway employees occupied some attention in the House to-day v.'hen several questions were asked regarding the e'tati of the service.

In answer to a question whether he would place railway employees who as clerks - refused positions sis stationmasters and thus suffered by having their promotions delayed by three years, in the same position as those 'who later on acted similarly but suffered only two year:>' delay as regards promotion. Sir Joseph Ward said he regrttted this request could not he agreed, to. jltcnbers of the railway service who declined promotion and lost seniority by three years as a consequence could not toow be placed in the position that they would have been in had the penalty for loss of promotion been two years instead of three. It was impossible to tell the position in which such members would have been for the reason that tliey might, subsequently have again refused. Where members of the service declined promotion when offeradl they must give way to those who accepted and they could not afterwards recover their position. My attention," said the Premier in reply to another question, "has been directed to the various statements that have recently appeared in the press respecting the dissatisfaction among railway employees. These statements require, however, to be received with great caution. ' Where a large staff of asien is concerned, such as the New Zealand railway staff, which numbers about eleven thousand, it must be expected, that some grievances are bound to exist. Where however these s are represented, they are gone into as 'closely as possible and reasonable relief is given. It .is not correct to . say that- great unrest prevails in the service and the statement that resignations are being sent in so fast that the railway will be run by the inexperienced or incapable is an unwarrantable exaggeration. There are cases where capable railway officers have taken up lucrative positions in other walks' of life but the same may be said of officers in every other State Department and also of smart men in private employ who from time to tame are offered better positions than those they occupy, and they consequently accept tpe offers. The great bulk of the men' who leave the railway service are however men who have been on probation and have failed to give satisfaction or who during the probationary period find the railway work distasteful and leave to take up other •employment. There is no dearth of experienced officers and men in the railway service, and the great bulk of the officers and men mow in the service will no doubt remain therein until they are eligible for retirement under the Government Railways Superannujtion Fund Act."