THE RAILWAY INSURANCE SCHEME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4712, 2 August 1893, Page 3

THE RAILWAY INSURANCE SCHEME.

Deputation to the Premier. [Special to the "Stab."| WELLINGTON, August 2. Tbia morning a deputation waited on the Premier with reference to the Railway insurance scheme and the constitution of the recent Conference on the subject. deputation comprised the Hon J. E. Jenkinson, M.L.C., Messrs Sandford, Tanner, Earnehaw and J. Kelly, M.H.B.'s, and Mr . Hoban, President of the Amalgamated Sooiety of New Zealand Eailway Servants. ' Mr Tanner, in introducing Mr Hoban to ' the Premier, stated that that gentleman t had compiled a mass of information L relative to the constitution of the recent , Conference, and wished to bring it forward in no spirit of hostility to the Cominia--1 sionerß, but solely in the interests of fair 1 play to all. Mr Hoban said that the Bail way servants of the Colony had many grievances, and he wiehed to urge upon the Government the passage of the Industrial Conciliation Bill, and the inclusion of Railway employees under its provisions. As for the Conference that lately sat in Wellington presuming to represent the railway employees, he said that the facts as to its representative character were aa follows :•— There were 4462 i ail way employees m the Colony, most of whom were wages men, yet at the Conference there were five stationmasters, one traffic inspector, one eight foreman, one yard foreman and two from the clerical staff against five wagea men. Further, the wages men had only single votes, whereas the other delegates by virtue of extra representation, wielded eleven votes against five. Then the manner in which these delegates were appointed, did not give representation to the body of the employees. At Chrisfcchurch only thirteen were present at the meeting called a few days before the date of the Conference. The men in the Addington workshops, numbering 400 or 500, knew nothing at all about it. Ac Auckland the men had only short notice, and at a small meeting ■ three prominent officials were suggested as delegates. At Otago, where there are nearly 600 employees, three delegates were appointed who aid not represent 5 per cent of the. men. At InvercargiU only nine men were present at the meeting, and by five voteß to three the Chief Clerk waß appointed delegate. Ten attended the meeting at Palmeraton North, and a Committee elected by that meeting appointed the station master aa delegate, and he was Chairman of the ! Conference. Mr Hoban went on to say that ' out of the whole railway service, the meetings held to elect delegates were attended by lees than one hundred persons. He controverted the impression created by the | recent Conference that the Amalgamated Sooiety of Eailway Servants was averse to an insurance scheme, and he asserted that co far from the Society decreasing in membership it was increasing both in membership and in contributions. As for the petition in favour of the Commissioners' insurance scheme, he assured the Premier that in Christchurch at least many signatures . were obtained through pressure by superior officers canvassing. Mr Earnshaw, as President of the Otago Branch of the Society, endorsed all that Mr Hoban had stated. The three delegates who sat for Ocago were, he said, not men who would have been chosen had the employees been consulted. The railway men as a whole were not averse to an insurance scheme, but any scheme to satisfy them must allow them to participate in the benefit after they left the railway eer- ' vice. There was a strong impression among the men in the Otago district that during the coming recesß the Commissioners would endeavour to force some insurance Bcheme upon the men without Parliamentary sanction, but on the lines of the Bill that was before the Conference. Mr Tanner said that he wished to emphasise the desire of the Eailway employees to have some independent tribunal before which their grievances could be heaid, and he reminded the Premier that in 1891 the Publio Petitions Committee made a recommendation that each a tribunal should be set up for the railway servants. The Hon J. E. Jenbinson confirmed Mr Hoban's statement as to the method in which the Chriatchurch delegates were chosen, and added that the signatures to the petition in favour of the Commißmissioners' Bill were Bimply bogus. Speaking from Ms own experience, he showed that signatures were obtained by false pretences that the petition was in favour of some insurance scheme, and not specially that of the Commissioners. The Premier remarked that' when the delegates to the recent Conference met him there was some talk about circulating the Bill among all railway employees. He wished to know if the present deputation approved of the proposal, and if so, what would be the beat means to ascertain the views of the railway employees regarding it. Mr Kelly suggested that as the men could not conveniently meet to discuss the measure, a copy of the Bill should be cent to each man in the service, along with a voting paper, returnable to the Premier direct without passing through the bands of any official. In that way, he said, the independent opinion of the employees on the subject %ould be obtained, without being filtered through the hands of their superior officers. It would, no doubt, be more satisfactory if the men could meet in a body in the different districts and discues the matter, but it was well known that large numbers of men could not do so, and therefore he suggested voting papers. Mr Sandford agreed that it was desirable ho have the employees' individual opinion of the measure, and the other members of the deputation all expressed approval of the proposal. The Premier said that he supposed that these voting papers should contain three things: — (1) Are you in favour of the Bill aB it standß? (2) If not, state where amendment is re« quired. (3) Are you already insured or in a Friendly Society ? He had listened with interest to the views of the deputation on the important question of an insurance scheme. It waß the desire of the Government to do everything that was fair and just to all concerned. Ministers' firsts concern was the interests of the Colony as a whole, and after that came their duty to the servants of the Colony. He was not prepared to say at present that he would adopt the suggestion made about taking a vote of the employees on the Bill. He would in the firat place lay the matter before the Eailway Commissioners and his colleagues. The proposal on the face of it appeared reasonable, and ought to be adopted unless there were grave reasons against it. The cost would be trifling, as copies of the Bill would cost only 30s per thousand. The taking of the vote would certainly set at rest the divergent statements made as to the wishes of the railway employees in the matter of the insurance scheme. He took it that there was a general consensus of opinion, that there should be aome scheme. It might be found that the late Conference represented the views of the men, but in the meantime, as the delegates were not chosen by the employees as a whole, and as the latter did not know what had been done, it was impossible to say whether or not they approved of the Commissioners' scheme. He would take an early opportunity of asking the Eailway Commissioners to meet him, when he would lay the proposal before them. - The deputation thanked the Premier, and withdrew.