The Railway Crisis As was to be expected, the three
railway unions have refused flatly to follow the railway companies in agreeing to the findings of Sir Harold Morris, the chairman of the National Wages Board. Sir Harold, it will be recalled, recommended a limited cut in wages calculated to save the companies roughly £700,000 a year—which would make a trifling impression on their deficits. This leaves the position precisely what it was before the protracted enquiry began. The companies can, of course, decide to reduce wages by the figure suggested by Sir Harold Morris, or any other amount, and throw on the men the onus of striking against the cuts, but the game would manifestly not be worth the candle. Yet something must be done to save the railways from ruin. Apart from a week or two in December the weekly traffic returns are still showing a regular decrease even on the deplorable figures of a year ago, and forecasts of the coming dividends arc of the gloomiest in spite of the considerable economies effected. There is only one obvious solution—adoption of the Salter Report, which the Ministry of Transport (or the Cabinet) has been sitting on for months. If the railways got a settlement broadly on the Salter lines they could Well afford to leave wages alone. It is profoundly to be hoped that rumours crediting the Government with having come down in favour of the report are true. * a a • a
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