SCALE OF PAY FOR WORKING-RAILWAY STAFF.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1888 Session I, D-17

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1888. NEW ZEALAND.

SCALE OF PAY FOR WORKING-RAILWAY STAFF.

Laid on the Table by the Hon. Mr. Mitchelson, with the Leave of the House.

The following scale of pay for the working-railway staff will apply to all employes engaged after the 23rd May, 1881, at which date it was introduced. It will not be applied to reduce the pay of those now paid above the scale. Pay below the scale w Till be arranged to work up to it gradually. It will not be applied to cancel privileges secured under previous arrangements. The classification of the present employes is not necessarily decided by the rates of pay received at the date hereof. Regular increases are to date from the end of the four-weekly period preceding the quarter-day next following the date of appointment last entered upon. Tbafpic Department. Stationmasters. —Stationmasters must be persons trained to a knowledge of station accounts, and having a thorough acquaintance with the duties laid down in the rules and regulations. Promotions will be made from the juniors among the traffic employes, and from lower to higher classes, according to the efficiency and good conduct of the officers, as vacancies occur. Stationmasters will be paid at the rate of —Sixth class, £130 per annum; fifth class, £140 per annum ; fourth class, £150 per annum ; third class, £175 per annum; second class, £200 per annum; first class, £250 per annum. After ten years' service as First-class Stationinaster the pay to be £275 per year, and after fifteen years £300. Where no house is provided, house-allowance at the rate of £50 per year will be made to First- and Second-class Stationmasters, and £25 per year to others. Porters in charge of stations will be paid £2 Bs. per week, with house-allowance of 9s. 6d. per week where no house is provided. Stationmasters may be called upon to perform postal and telegraph duties in addition to the railway work ; in such cases the pay will be regulated according to circumstances. Outdoor Staff. —Wharfingers will rank as Stationmasters. Coaching and goods foremen will be paid from 10s. to 12s. per day. Guards, first class, will be paid—First year, 9s. per day ; second year, 9s. 6d. per day ; after seven years' service, 10s. per day. Guards (second class) and brakesmen will be paid —First year, Bs. per day; second year, Bs. 6d. per day. Increases of pay to guards will depend upon good conduct and the careful and complete execution of the duties assigned to them. Increases are iiable to be disallowed on account of insubordination, neglect, or incompetence. Promotions will be made from second to first class, according to efficiency and good conduct, as vacancies occur. Guards will be selected from the class of porters and shunters. Horse-drivers, shunters, signalmen, and storemen will be paid—Fourth class, 7s. per day ; third class, 7s. 6d. per day; second class, Bs. per day; first class, Bs. 6d. per day; head shunters and storemen, 10s. per day. Porters will be paid—Second class, first year, 6s. 6d. per day; first class, first year 7s. per day, second year 7s. 6d. per day. Lad-porters not under sixteen years of age will be employed. They will be paid 3s. per day for the first year, increasing Is. per day each year. They will rank as porters after the third year. Increases of pay depend upon good conduct and careful attention to duties. Increases are liable to be disallowed for insubordination, neglect, or incompetence. Steam-crane drivers will be paid as locomotive firemen. Watchmen will be paid £2 2s. per week. Gatekeepers will be paid from £1 10s. to £1 16s. per week. Labourers will be paid 6s. 6d. per day. No one whose age exceeds thirty-five years, or who is unable to read and write, will be admitted into this department. Locomotive Department. Fitters, turners, and other tradesmen will be paid from Bs. to 10s. 6d. per day. Shop-foremen, 11s. to 15s. per day. Machinists, strikers, and sailmakers, 7s. to Bs. per day. Apprentices will be taken into the Government shops, not under fourteen years of age, and not over seventeen years : Bates of pay —First year, ss. per week; second year, 7s. per week ; third year, 9s. per week; fourth year, 12s. per week; fifth year, 15s. per week; sixth year, 18s. per week; seventh year, £1 Is. per week. Any apprentice who before the age of eighteen shall pass the junior Civil Service Examination, and before the age of twenty shall pass the senior examination, shall, so far as opportunities admit, be taught the business of a mechanical engineer. Cleaners. —Young men not under seventeen years of age and not over twenty-two years may be taken on as " cleaners." Cleaners will be paid—First year, ss. 6d. per day; second year, 6s. per day ; third year, 6s. 6d. per day ; fourth year, 7s. per day. Cleaners will be promoted to firemen, according to efficiency and good conduct, as vacancies occur.

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Firemen. — Every fireman must have served as cleaner. Firemen will be paid — Second class, first year 7s. 6d. per day, second year Bs. per day; first class, third year Bs. 6d. per day, fourth year 9s. per day. Firemen after two years' service will be promoted to first class, according to efficiency and good conduct, and if in all respects eligible, as vacancies occur. Enginemen. —Every engineman must have served the full term as fireman. He must pass an examination prescribed by the Locomotive Superintendent, to ascertain his fitness, before he takes charge of an engine. Enginemen will be paid —Second class, first year 10s. per day, second year 10s. 6d. per day, third year lls. per day; first class, fourth year 11s. Gd. per day, fifth year 12s. per day. But they will not be entitled to receive more than 10s. per day until their period of service in all capacities has reached seven years, except in the case of men serving in the locomotiverunning department as firemen or drivers prior to the Ist August, 1880, who will be entitled to receive 10s. 6d. a day when their total period of service in all capacities has reached six years. Leading drivers will be paid 13s. per day. Promotions of enginemen from second class to first class will be made as vacancies occur, according to efficiency and good conduct. Enginemen before promotion from second class to first class will be required to pass an examination prescribed by the Locomotive Superintendent respecting the working of the locomotive engine. Appointment of leading driver will be made as vacancies occur : only the most thoroughly trustworthy and skilled drivers will be promoted to that position. Increases of pay. to cleaners, firemen, and drivers will depend upon their good conduct and careful attention to their duties. Promotion and increases are liable to be disallowed for insubordination, neglect, or incompetence, Running-shed foreman and shop-managers will be paid £4 to £6 per week. Permanent-way. Labourers will be paid 6s. 6d. per day. Special hands will be paid 7s. per day. Gangers must be steady, trained men, able to read and write. They will be paid—Third class, Bs. per day; second class, 9s. per day; first class, 10s. per day. Inspectors will be paid—Sub-inspectors, lls. to 13s-. per day; bridge-inspectors, lls. to 13s. per day; inspectors permanent-way, and foremen of works, 14s. to 17s. per day. Promotions will be made from the lower to the higher classes of gangers, and from gangers to sub-inspectors, and from sub-inspectors to inspectors, according to ability and good conduct, and as vacancies occur. General. Cadets not under fourteen and not exceeding seventeen years of age will be taken into the Traffic Department and employed on the clerical staff. Cadets will be paid as follows : First year (on probation), £30; second year (on probation), £50; third year, £80; fourth year, £95; fifth year, £110. Cadets who pass the junior Civil Service Examination will be allowed to count three months' service, and those who pass the senior examination a year's service in addition, and the dates for promotion will be earlier by those periods, and the period of cadetship correspondingly shortened. Cadets who have reached the age of twenty-one, and who are promoted to charge of stations, or to clerkships, shall take the scale-pay for those appointments. The same rule will apply to cadets, promoted as above, who may not have reached the ago of twenty-one, but who have nevertheless served the full term of five years. Cadets living away from their homes when on duty, where house-accommoda-tion is not found, will be paid 10s. a week lodging-allowance during the first year, 6s. a week during the second, and ss. a week during the third. The clerical and drafting staff will be classified and paid as follows : Third class, £120 per annum, rising £10 a year to £140 ; second class, £150 per annum, rising £10 a year to £180; first class, £190 per annum, rising £10 a year to £250 ; special, £250 to £300. Regulations for Overtime Wages in the Permanent-way, Tbapfic, and Locomotive Departments. Permanent-way. —Workmen are required to work eight hours per day, or forty-eight hours per week, for the authorised daily wages. The regular hours of work are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on working-days, with one hour off. Extra pay will be allowed to labourers and tradesmen for time worked in excess of eight hours per day, subject to such regulations as may be from time to time issued. Locomotive-running. —Ten hours, or a hundred miles, at the option of the Locomotive Superintendent, to count as one day's work for a driver or fireman. Overtime to be counted at the rate of time and a quarter. Traffic. —Traffic employes will be required to work all trains on the advertised time-table without allowance for overtime. But, as far as possible, duties to be arranged to avoid overtime. General. —Half-pay will be allowed to employes suffering accident when on duty, if from causes beyond their own control, for the first three months, and quarter-pay for an additional three months. As far as can be arranged consistently with economy and public convenience in the case of employes generally, the working-time is not to exceed eight hours per day, or forty-eight hours per week of six working-days. In the case of locomotive drivers and firemen the working-time is, as far as practicable, to be limited to ten hours a day, or sixty hours per week of six working-days. Men engaged on intermittent services who are paid extra for overtime, as in the case of drivers and firemen, will not have their whole time counted from first coming on duty until finally leaving, but only such time as the officer in charge may in each case determine may be fairly counted as workingtime. [Approximate Cost of Paper.— Preparation, nil ; printing (1,275 copies), £1 ss.]

Authority : Geokge Didsbuby, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBBB.