The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1920. THE RAILWAYMEN'S CASE.

Timaru Herald, Volume 170, Issue 170205, 30 April 1920, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1920. THE RAILWAYMEN'S CASE.

T'lie railway men, who put their case for improved wages very badly before the strike began* have not yet succeeded, as a service, in pu,ttin<>'„it in_ the.jjj'ay which might be most likely to impress the public. The official statement of the execivtive council of the locomotive men's union, in proclaiming their istrike, said that the latest claims made by. the men were quite apart from recent advances in the cost of living. "We have already expressed our opinion that this was the most credible case which the railwaymen could put forward, and that it should haye been urged, instead of an entirely different case, before. But the case of the Amalgamated Society in regard to wayes, as explained by the general secretary of that body, is still based entirely on the co.st of living, and the resolutions of the Officers' Institute follow the same reasoning. It is n-o wonder if the Prime Minister thought that the recommendations of the Stringer Commission v, : ere still the principal grievance of the men when his answer- to the representatives of the smallest union, offering a new Commission to adjust wages to the cost of living, gave almost the last incitement 'to the engine-men, according to their oincial explanation of the strike's genesis. Apartfrom other aspects of the matter, the question of whether particular branches of workers have had increases in the cost of living, due to war and post-war conditions, made up to them with absolute completeness, is not one that concerns the public greatly. Thousands of the public know that their incomes cannot possibly be regulated so that they shall be as well off as if there had been no war. They know also that the attempts which are being made, by courts and commissions, to keep wages level with the cost of living are doomed in the nature of thjngs to. defeat themselves. They merely assist everyone to spend more and send, up the cos : t of living, when less, spending wpuld soon bring it down. But ;1 the public can judcre between aSfair wage and one that is unreasonably .low, and the case," wliich'

lias been, least prominent, that i-ailwaymen are inadequately paid because they g-ot too little before the war does afford a practicable matter for investigation. Xo case -which, the railwayman could ever make could excuse the violent action they have taken in holding- up the railways of the jNorth Island, and threatening to hold up those of the South, when the moment of the Prince's visit makes that an outrage against loyalty and hospitality. and threatens to deprive hundreds of thousands of an opportunity of expressing their affection for the Empire's heir to which they have looked, forward for months. Already the Prince's North Island tour, south of Eotorua. has been, abandoned, and there is no saying how far he may be able to get beyond the cities. But the excuses that have been made, on behalf of the first unions to strike, have been pitiable. The admission was made by the locomotive men's secretary. when their strike for the North Island was declared: ''l am not going* to blame the Department for the wages that locomotive men are receiving at the present time, because that has been brought about by special circumstances." If" the Department is not blameable, why make the Minister in charge of it. who is also the Prime Minister, forsaking the duties of hospitality, rush down at breakneck speed, by bad roads and night motor journeys, from Rotorua to Wellington," with all the disgrace and inconvenience to Kew Zealand which this strike entails? If, as they state, the bad conditions of the railwaymen are a matter of ten years duration and agitation, why choose the month of April for holdinguvd the railways instead of March or May? The executive of the engine-men's society offers two reasons. The executive could have held the men front striking, said its first notice, if the refusal of the Department to give delegates leave to go to Wellington to consider the position on April had not put the last straw on the patience of branches, making' them uncontrollable. In a statement which we publish to-1 day it says that "the exception-j ally deplorable conditions of work imposed noon the North Island men" had macje them force the executive to give way, vnd it pug-gests that trains to see the Prince could not have been run without the risk of dreadful accidents in the reduced state of the North Island service. It is worth noting that this excuse does not cover the Amalgamated Society, which is also on strike in the ISorth Island, and it is specially stated that no such reasons exist why the Prince should not travel in the South' Island. ■But it is a quaint commentary on the whole statement that the executive and the engine-men, who feared so miich from a denuded service, were quite willingto- denude it further by calling delegates to a conference in Wellington. Apparently they had \ no doubts that the service" could be worked with a still smaller ■staff, and all the concern for lujmanity of which so much : s made in this manifesto of ihe was shown then by the Department. The Department's attitude was that ten drivers and firemen could not be released at that particular time, to attend a meeting' of which the object was not specified, without throwing an undue burden on the others"' In view of the time chosen for it careful consideration of all the excuses made, the public's verdict will most certainlv be that there never was a more dis creditable strike. It has no claim to extension and it cannot too soon be ended, in the interests of the railwaymen and all others.