22 MAY 1920, Page 3

The National Railway Wages Board has had a public hearing

this week of the case for and against the railwaymen's new demands. Mr. Cramp and Mr. Bromley for the rival railway unions made it clear that these demands are not based on the higher cost of living but are attributable to what we may bluntly call jealousy of other trades and caste feeling. A goods porter earning 9s. 6d. a day for seven days a week testified that ho had sometimes to work near a docker who received 16s. a day for an uncertain number of days in the week, and he evidently resented the fact. The engine-drivers' representative claimed that, as highly skilled craftsmen, the drivers should be paid more than less skilled men. We do not say that these demands in themselves are unreasonable. The driver of an express ought to be paid really well, considering his responsibilities. But the union leaders do not seem to see that the new principle of pay according to caste must mean interminable wages disputes and an unending rise in prices. For if the railwaymen are now appeased, the dockers will want more, and the skilled cotton operatives will have a word to say on the matter, and so on indefinitely.