BRITISH RAILWAY SETTLEMENT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16030, 22 January 1920, Page 3

BRITISH RAILWAY SETTLEMENT.

SPEECH BY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT. Australian and N.Z, Cable Association, LONDON, January 21. The Minister of Transport, in a speech at Cambridge upon the railway settlement, declared that if the men had not accepted the recent tentative agreement they would have struck_ the severest blow possible at the principles of collective bargaining with trades unions. The settlement represented permanent increases in the railwaymen’s wages bill from the prewar rates of forty-seven millions to one hundred and ten millions sterling, namely, an increase of 134 per cent notwithstanding any fall in the cost of living. This increase represented the estimated additional cost of railwaymen’s wages, due to improved rates, hours, and conditions of service. As the cost of living fell, railway costs' fell, which reductions, coupled to economies through unified management, should reduce expenditure, which caused the recent increased rates. He believed the railways could, despite the new permament wages hill, return to a level which would enable trade to thrive and compete in the world’s market without undue handicap. He had been assured by the men’s leaders that the management could henceforth expect closer co-operation from the workers. This should release the management from the consideration of amending wages disputes, enabling proper attention'to be paid to the economical and efficient management of their lines, which would have a direct money result.