FACING FACTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17467, 30 July 1928, Page 6

FACING FACTS.

Contrary to expectation the railwaymen in Britain have, as the result of a conference with the several managements, agreed to a cut of ih per cent, in their wages. The decision Mr J. 11. Thomas, the well-known Labour representative, declares to be a great settlement and a triumph of common sense, and as such V, must be regardedThe British railways, as arc those of this Dominion, arc feeling to an increasing extent the inroads of motor competition, and have had to face the problem of falling revenue and increasing costs. No business can run indefinitely with receipts falling short of expenditure; the ultimate result of such a state of affairs must mean liquidation. The railwaymcn in Britain had by judicious management secured very great concessions in the matter of wages.

Unfortunately high wages mean high freights, and while the railwayman has been receiving wages based on the scale of the prices of live or six years ago, other trades have been suffering from increased railway freights. It cannot either be claimed that these freights were imposed to earn dividends, because the railways have had to fall back on the amount received from Government for the use of the railways in war time in order to pay interest on debentures and preference shares. Wc have heard much of Britain's sheltered industries and the con r trast between the condition of those who work in such industries as compared with those who have to cornpete with other countries. There are other sheltered industries, but the most glaring example is the railways, and that is the one which has the greatest effect on other industries. An adjustment was bound to arise, and it has probably been hastened by motor competition- We arc seeing a revolution in transport which can only be compared to the changes brought about by the substitution of railways for stage coaches. As wc arc in the midst of the revolution it is impossible to say how far-reaching it may be, but from all parts we hear of the rapid increase in the numbers of every kind of motor vehicle and a consistent decline in railway traffic. The fact cannot be ignored that motor transport has some very substantial advantages to offer, and while no country is ready to dispense with railways, the problem is how to make them pay when the most profitable lines of freight are being diverted from them and the companies arc actually running at a substantial annual loss. In a position like that it would no doubt have been a short-sighted policy on the part of the railway servants to have refused to make any concession. Nobody will rejoice that a largo body of. men should have to accept a lower rate of wages, but economic facts have to be faced, and ii is evident that the British railwaymcn arc prepared to face them.