The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-10-07 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1871.
RAILWAY WORK.

Public attention is now being urgently direc-
ted to the hours of labour in many departments
of trade. The nine hours movement is an agi-
tation which must he familiar to all newspaper
readers, and a large proportion of our country-
men take an immediate and personal interest in
it. Strikes are just now one of the most promi-
nent features of the news of the day. These
great labour disputes are not confined to one
trade or even circumscribed by our own boun-
daries, but the strike fever— if we may so ex-
press it—has also broken out abroad. It is not
worth while to refer to this important subject
superficially, and on the present occasion we do
not propose to enter into it with that carefulness
which momentous questions of capital and la-
bour always demand. We would rather direct
attention to a, generally speaking, overworked
and underpaid class of the community, a class
on the proper performance of whose duties the
public welfare materially depends. We refer to
railway servants. This large section of the in-
dustrial classes are not on strike; it can indeed
scarcely be said that they have commenced any
agitation either for a diminution of the hours of
labour or for an increase of pay. The public in
fact axe learning the hard conditions of the work
of these railway servants mainly through the
benevolent inquiries and exertions of Mr. Bass,
M.P. for Derby. This well known member of
Parliament has large business connections with
the Midland and other railways, and his attention
having been incidentally drawn some time since
to the heavy work of railway employes, he pro-
secuted a strict inquiry into the whole subject,
and has, on more than one occasion, given the
public the result of his investigations.
In response to the peries of the member for
Derby, be finds that railway guards, drivers,
stokers, signalmen, pointsmen, and other ser-
vants practically engaged in railway work, have
had as a rule to continue their arduous labours
for a period which is unfair to the men, unsafe
for railway passengers, and illiberal on the part
of railway directors. The statements which Mr.
Bass originally made to the public were virtually
those of the men themselves, and for their truth
these men must be held responsible ; but it is
only fair to the hon. gentleman to say that
though souse of these statements have been offi-
cially controverted, the truth of a large proper.
tion of them is beyond all question. It cannot
be denied or disputed that men whose daily la-
bour is not only arduous in itself, but is very
critical so far as the safety of railway travellers
is concerned, are frequently—we do not say as
a rule—called on to work 16, 18, or even '2O
hours continually. Mr. Bass has accumulated
so many facts in proof of such a broad state-
ment Sc this, that we are bound to take its gene-
ral truth for granted. He has just written ,
another letter to the Chairman of the Midland
Railway Company, in which he states that he
has abundant confirmation of his original state-
ments, and adds, " I shall cheerfully bow to the
verdict the public may pronounce between us,
On one point they sujely must decide in my fa-
vour, for you ignore the existence of the public;
in your cteeire to apologise for excessive work
and low wages it does not seem to have occurred
to you that the safety of your passengers de-
pend, not only on the employment of well quail
tied servants, but also on avoiding such excessive
straw on their powers as might disqualify them
from the efficient discharge of their duties...
Herein perhaps is the gist of the whole matter,
or at all events this consideration is the one in
which the public has most concern. It is in fact
not as u question between employer and ens-
played, not as a dispute in reference to too much
work or too little pay, or both, that we refer to
it, but at a public matter. Railway directors
may use arguments or excuses as they think
proper; they may, as Mr. Bass puts it, ignore
the exietence of the public, but the fact is that
the overworking of railway servants is directly
and indirectly connected with railway accidents.
It ha a been proved over and over again, during
the proceedings of coroners inquests that rail-
way catastrophes have been partially if not
wholly attaibutable to what has been called the
neglect of some point-ennui, signalman, &c.;
whereas the strict fact has been that this so-
called neglect had been nothing more than that
inattention which has been the necessary conse-
quence of mind and body being overtaxed by
prolonged labour..

Mr. —Bass, confining his attention chiefly to
the Midland Railway, expresses his conviction
that in the interests of the public, as well as of
the workmen, the Company ought to modify the
working boars and to re-arrange the wages of
their servants so as to allay discontent, and en•
courage that willing service without which no
affairs ever did or ever will move on satisfactor-
ily. We heartily agree with this view of the
matter, and trust that the Midland Rallway dir-
ectors will lay to heart suggestions sbich are
certainly not proffered for amy private interest,
but winch are put forward for the welfare of an
overworked clams, and for the benefit of the pub-
lic at large. it would be quite a mistake, how-
ever, to suppose that the Midland Railway Com-
pany is alone in the overworking and underpay-
ing of their servants. w ere inquiries rigidly
prosecuted into the management of other fines,
it would be bound that not only are the energies
of men in the departments to which we have
alluded overtaxed, Out that other employee —for
instance, booking, goods, and traffic clerks, are
considerably overworked, but "not to put too
fine a point upon it, certainly not overpaid.
All this is of course very unfair, and indeed un-
just, to the persons chiefly concerned ; and it is
unfair idso to the public inasmuch as overwork
simply means its occasionally negligent perfor-
mance. So far as the companies themselves are
concerned we consider a short-sighted policy is
thus displayed. It may seem at first sight that
economy is thus effected, but in the long run
Ulla is certainly not the case. When such heavy
demands are made on mind and body both arc
apt to give way, and such a state of things be-
comes very dangerous, considering the critical
• character of railway work, and the large amount
of praperty, aial the still more important con-
sideration of human life which aro at stake.
'When a seiions catastrophe occurs on any of our
lines this false economy is at once apparent.
Shareholders kilos, to their eoat, how their div-
idends have been decreased, and sometimes
wholly withheld, owing to the enormous demande
for compenaation—compensation which, in too
many cases, may be directly traced to the evils
on which we have commented.

Th'se Ladies who have not yet need OLZNFIELD
‘Rce, are respectfully watched to give it a trial, and
carefully follow out the directions printed on every packs
age, ant if d i.e. lb will sly like the tiaren's
L.iundress, that, at is the tinent starch they ever used.
In hen you ask for Olentleld Starch, see that you get it,
as inferior Wads an often anbiltituted for the Nage ul
ealra Foals.