Railways and Safety.

In a reference to a recent mishap (in which a passenger lost his life), to a mail train on the Home railways, the London “Daily Telegraph” drew attention to the fact that the fatality in question was the first to occur on the railways in a period of six months. On the other hand, there was an average of more than fourteen persons killed on the roads of Great Britain every day during 1927. The “Telegraph” makes the pertinent observation that “if people realised the wonderful safety of the railways, they might use them more.”

Railwaymen and Education.

The Frankton Junction Railwaymen's Class in Economics, held under the auspices of the Workers’ Educational Association, is growing in popularity. The Class has been in existence for two years and is steadily increasing its membership—and its eagerness for knowledge. Its members have just concluded a very successful session of lectures during the course of which practically every phase of economic thought came under review. The lectures delivered by Mr. T. N. Pemberton, M. A., Dip. Jour., F.R.E.S., were not only instructive, but enjoyable. His lectures gave ample evidence of thorough preparation and had the additional advantage that they were free from technicalities or from anything savouring of the academic. A feature of the meetings was the election of a new chairman for each lecture. This procedure served the double purpose of acquainting the members of the Class with the duties and responsibilities of chairmnaship, and of giving them practice in the art of public speaking. With the need that is evident to-day for trained and disciplined minds to study (and solve) the economic and transport problems of the Dominion—problems in which we, as railwaymen, are vitally interested—it is to be hoped that classes similar to those at Frankton Junction may be started at centres where at present, they do not exist.

A “Fallacious” Argument.

The argument frequently advanced that the introduction of the motor brought about a world transport revolution comparable with that effected by the Railways a century ago, was recently characterised as “fallacious” by Professor Henry Clay—one of the Empire's leading economists. In an article in “The Economic Journal,” Professor Clay says: “The Railways effected a revolution because they made possible a speed and volume of transport which were impossible before; the motor does nothing of the sort. All it does is slightly to increase the convenience of certain kinds of transport. A country does not grow rich by transferring its suburban population from perfectly adequate trains to omnibuses, or its parcels from railway vans to motor lorries.”

A Quarter-Million Saving.

An important reference to the new railways workshops re-organisation was made by the Prime Minister and Minister of Railways (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates), in the House of Representatives on 21st August.

“We think our estimates are going to work out right, and that we will save approximately a quarter of a million a year after paying interest on capital cost, as a result of the project. The reconstruction of our shops was long overdue, and it is in the interests of the workers and the railway system that it be carried through.”

Mr Coates said that machinery would take the place of many men, but it was hoped to arrange the change without and great disability to the men.