11

ft. W. MOVILLY.:

I.—fiA.

90. The Chairman.] This schedule might have been based on the D.-3, 1910. Have you found any inaccuracies in D.-3, 1910? —It is the D.-3 I am discussing. In regard to those ten items I have quoted as being incorrect, I have quoted the D.-3, 1910, against them. Hon. Mr. Millar: I do not wish the Committee to understand that this schedule is misleading the Committee at the present time, but it is misleading when taking the classification under D.-3, 1910, seeing that the officers have taken the worst positions to prove their case Michael Dennehy examined. (No. 5.) 1. The Chairman.] What are you?— Clerk in the Maintenance Branch at Wanganui. 2. I understand you now wish to make your statement?— Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, —In connection with our request for a similar scale to the Post and Telegraph Department, I should like to go back to the Classification Act of 1907. I should like to quote from the speech of Sir Joseph Ward when moving the second reading of the Classification Bill in that year (Hansard No. 40, session 1907, page 641), as follows : " Sir, in rising to move the second reading of this Bill I should like, in the first place, to convey to honourable members a comparison between the payment in the Railway service and that in the Post and Telegraph service. I do not know who has been responsible for it, but in the past there have in many instances been some very unfair, inaccurate, and misleading statements made in connection with this seivice. It is in the matter of salaries this impression has been sought to be conveyed. Proposals are embodied in this Bill which will, I believe, get over a great many of the conditions that ought to be improved; but I want to say that some of the statements made by persons outside the Railways and the Post and Telegraph services will not bear close analysis and investigation. I propose, therefore, for the sake of the officers and employees in the Railway service, to put on record, before 1 go on to explain the proposals contained in this Bill, what the relative position between these two services is; and in doing this I want to tell the honourable members that I am not drawing the comparison on the old classification, but upon the scheme that 1 have submitted to-day. If I made the comparison on the old scheme the position would be even better from the point of view that I am placing it before honourable members." I wish to say that the comparison was made on the old scale for the reason in the first place that when the amended classification was passed in both services in 1907 it dated from the Ist April, 1908, and in that case no comparison could have been made, and, besides, the old grades were quoted, as I will proceed to show later on. " I do not wish to colour the position in any way whatever, or to exaggerate it, but I do want to put on record a comparative statement of the salaries of the officers of the Railway service, of the Post and Telegraph seivice, and of the Civil Service Departments. Of the clerks, Stationmasters, and others in the Railways—those between £315 and £355—the average salary is £338. Mr. ■I. Allen :Is that the Railways as they are? The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward :As they are. Mr. •I. Allen : Compared with the Telegraphs as it is in the Bill? The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward: Yes." I will now quote the information as taken from Hansard on a percentage basis for both Departments: Grade £315 to £355 —Railways, 3"16 per cent; Postal Department, 1"34 per cent. Grade £260 to £300—Railways, 823 per cent; Postal' Department, 3-12.per cent. Grade £235 to £250—Railways, 1101 per cent.; Postal Department, 6"18 per cent. Grade £190 to £220— Railways, 25"57 per cent.; Postal Department, 3804 per cent. Grade £110 to £180—Railways, 5201 per cent.; Postal Department, 5103 per cent. Those were the old grades, as I will proceed to show in a second or two. I will also show what alterations were made in both classifications. These figures prove that there were better opportunities for promotion in the Railway service than obtained in the Postal service in 1907. The position having been placed before honourable members of Parliament in that year, it is quite justifiable on our part to compare the two Departments in 1910 on a percentage basis; but before doing so it is necessary to consider the amendments that were made in the old scale of salaries under the amending Acts introduced in 1907. In the Postal Department the minimum and maximum limits of all grades were raised. So far as the Railway Department Classification Act is concerned, the amendments in salaries consisted of an improved scale for cadets and the raising of the maximum salary of the lower grade from £180 to £200 per annum. There were also alterations in the scale of salaries of the three highest grades, which concerned only twenty-one officers :it was the splitting-up of one grade into two. Therefore, no alteration has been made in grades for salaries between £200 and £400 per annum in the Railway Department since the year 1901. Having compared the two services in 1901 on a percent aire basis, 1 will now compare the two in 1910 on a percentage basis. Railways —salary £120 to £200, percentage 5670 (that is the maximum pay for that grade); salary £210 to £220, percentage 2130. Now I will take the lowest grade in the Post Office: Postal —salary £120 to £220, percentage 53-22 up to £200, 2355 at £220. That is the total up to £220 in the Railway service—7B per cent, of officers exclusive of cadets; and the Postal service 76"77 per cent, in that one grade, as compared with two up to £220 in the Railway service. The next grade is—Railways —salary £240 to £255, percentage of officers 9*35 per cent.; Postal—salary £200 to £260, percentage of officers 1589 per cent. The next grade is : Railways—salary £200 to £300, percentage of officers 574 per cent.; Postal —salary £275 to £315, percentage of officers 29 i per cent. I maintain that while the percentage of officers in the Post Office is 294 it is not a fair comparison with our grade because it is higher. Then the next grade : Railways —salary £315 to £355, percentage of officers 3" 14 per cent.; Postal-—salary £330 to £370. percentage of officers 1*53 per cent. There is 1 per cent, difference, but it is not a fair comparison because it is a higher grade. All the grades in the Postal Department were raised under the Act of 1907, whereas in the Railway Department the only alteration made was the raising of the lowest grade from £180 to £200, and increasing the scale for officers in that grade and also for the cadets. There were no other alterations except right at the top. Now, having mentioned the percentages in 1907 so far as our service is concerned. T will now draw a comparison as regards 1910. In the first place I will group the salaries