I.—6a.
22
[j. G. MCPHEHSON.
are concerned. If a man elects to take upon himself the duties and responsibilities of a wife and family he is tit the most .strenuous period, where family expenses are increasing, and we say that a man should he entitled to a salary sufficient to keep up his position. The Department expects us to occupy a social position in acordance with the position we hold in the Department—-they expect us to live accordingly; and we wish to maintain our positions in the service so that it will be a credit to the Railways. We tire here to-day on behalf of every member of our service, and yon will see in our requests almost from the highest man to the lowest is included. We are not here simply to put our own cases. We have 90 per cent, of the members of Division I as members of our institute, and we are here to endeavour to do good for tlie whole of the service, and to try and point out where the remuneration is not in accordance with the duties performed. Of course, a man can certainly live on £220; but what can you call it? If he is to gain the respect of the people in the district or town in which he is working, and to carry out the duties devolving upon him. and maintain his social position in a manner that is a credit to the Government which is employing him, he must of necessity receive more remuneration than he is getting tit present. That all comes under the heading of increased cost of living, and 1 take it tin- Department expects us to be a credit to our Department. When Mr. Dennehy was referring to the scale increases the Hon. Mr. Millar interjected that the Railway officers received scale increases, while the staffs in other Government Departments which had not been classified did not received any increases. Now, there is no way thai we can gel the papers to verify that. lion. Mr. Millar: The estimates will verify thai : you do not need to go beyond that. Witness: Yes. 1 am of the opinion that that is not perfectly correct, anil 1 should like to see the estimates to verify the statement. Mr. Dennehy said in his remarks thai if the ninth grade were abolished we should go up automatically to the eighth grade, or, if we got the Postal scale, to £260. Well, that was corrected later; but what we wish to impress on tin- Committee is thai if we got this scale the men who the Department considered were not worthy of a greater rate of pity than £200 or £220 should stay there. We are not asking that men should go into the service and rise automatically to £260 —that is not our object. We want the efficient men in the positions that carry responsibility, and which we are here to prove are worth it, to get £260; but in the ease of men who are inefficient and who the Department considers are not worth it, we consider the barrier should be placed at £200. Those men have their own remedy of going to tin- Appeal Court if they consider they are unjustly treated. Now, the Hon. Mr. Millar made a reference to Waiouru in his remarks. He said the officer could sit on his stool all day, but I should like to iidd to that and say that the officers have to sit on their stools all day and night, because their duties bring them out at something like 3 a.m. ami keep them on duty till 12.30 a.m. Of course. they do not work excessive hours, hut a man has irregular hours. It is ii great strain on his health, and he cannot gel the rest that a Postal officer working regular hours can get ; and the institute contends thai with the strain on a Railway man, who has all these hundred-and-one duties to look after, dealing with expensive rolling-stock, the public safety, and other things which have to be handled carefully and efficiently, he should receive remuneration in accordance with his responsibilities: In any commercial business it man who has winked up and been faithful to his employers receives recognition in this respect. Now in conclusion I should just like to ask the Committee to consider these questions: Do the Railway officers work shorter hours than tinPost and Telegraph officers or officers of other Departments? No. Is there less responsibility ! No. Then why less salary? Boiled down, the whole argument comes to this: that we are carrying heavier responsibilities, longer hours, and greater stress and worry than any other Governinetil Department. We are working in the great majority of cases in offices where the health of the staff is not cared for the same as in private offices. All these statements can be verified. We stand or fall by the statements we make. 1 do not say that in all cases the office accommodation is had, because in some instances, such as the chief centres and Dunedin, for instance, it is very good. In a great man] cases we have splendid offices, hut I am referring to the rank and file, and many a man to-day is suffering from the effects of working in such offices as we have had to work in." Of course, some may say that is a matter of minor consideration; but is your health a minor consideration? No, 1 say your health is the first consideration and the next is your salary. Most of us have wives and families, and we want it salary sufficient to enable us to bring our families up to take positions better than we are in to-day. That is whal we are fighting for, and it is to the benefit of the Dominion that we get it. These are all the remarks I desire to make. :',. Mr. Ramsay.] You are familiar with the Schedules I! and C attached to the petition?— Yes. 4. Schedule B has been compiled from the Government Railways Act and Post and Telegraph c t 1 Yes. 5. And Schedule C from D.-3 and F.-5 lists, 1910?— Yes. 6. There are three cases wrongly stated in Schedule C—the Locomotive Foreman, Dunedin, should be £355; Traffic Clerk, Christchurch, £355; Car and Wagon Inspector. Dunedin, £300; and the Storekeeper, Addington, £345. Those are the only oases? —Yes. 7. You consider that the duties performed by Railway officers are more onerous than those performed by Postitl officers? —Yes. 8. And the effect of the strain of working trains has a detrimental effect on the nerves?— It has. . 9. And the fact that a very slight mistake might lead to an accident with loss of life, and that always causes a Railway man anxiety?— Yes, he may be put on his trial for manslaughter, and of course such a thing as putting a train off the line at a station means his dismissal if in charge at the time 10. Have the trials ami responsibilities of Railway officers been lessened by the safety appliance? -N". they have not been lessened. 11. I suppose they require regular and constant attention? —Yes, and supervision. 12. And that practically means that the officer is on duty right throughout the day? —It would depend on the station.' Some officer would have to be on duty.
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