It appears from a report of a meeting of Railway
servants at Liverpool, that the Engine-drivers of the London and North- -Western Company are in a state of great excitement. They say -that the Company, by introducing the system of payment by the trip, have reduced their wages and increased their hours, until the men are tempted to break rules and "risk collons " in order to save their time. That is a serious statement, and it is made by Mr. Evans, Secretary to the Amalgamated Society of Railway 'Servants, a powerful association, with 13,000 members. Another speaker said that men sometimes received only 6s. for a journey of nineteen or twenty hours, for a journey, that is, which should never be made, as the engineer must before its close be utterly worn out. All the statements at the meeting deserve inquiry, but if the men .desire the support of public opinion, they should dwell more upon the hours, and less upon the wages given for those hours. The latter, within certain limits, must be a matter of supply and demand —though 23s. a week is certainly not enough for an engine-driver- but the former concerns the general safety. The public believes -at present that Railway Companies, as a rule, pay fairly, but as -traders whose business goes on both night and day, they tend to exact too long hours from everybody. There is rarely an -accident without evidence that some pointsman, or signalman, or driver is occasionally sixteen hours at work. It must not be forgotten that a Railway servant differs from most employes in this,—that he is penally liable for carelessness or drunkenness, and the penalties are exacted.
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