RAILWAYS, 
143 
have laid it down that “ no step should be taken which would produce 
a.sudden and violent dislocation in the economic life of the Anglo-Indian 
community ” and that “ in order to avert this danger, care must be taken 
in the preparation of schemes for recruitment to the subordinate rail- 
way services, not to impose conditions which would in effect seriously 
restrict the opportunities of employment on the Indian Railways which 
Anglo-Indians at present enjoy.” Our difficulty in dealing with this 
question is that both of these principles are based on considerations which 
lie entirely outside our scope. They have been evolved with reference 
not to labour but to political issues. In consequence, we are 
not in a position to review the question as a whole ; this must be the 
concern. of those who are responsible for general policy, 4.e., of the 
framers of the constitution, of Governments and of legislatures. We 
would urge, however, in the interests of labour, the importance of 
doing all that is possible to remove what is at present a constant source 
of discontent and bitterness. The Government of India recognise that 
the second of the two principles does not stand in the same category as 
the first, in that the elimiation of the discrimination involved in 
it is their definite policy. We believe it to be in the interests of all 
concerned that definite steps be now taken which will lead in a 
specified term of years to the progressive elimination of any form of 
discrimination as regards both appointments and promotions to all 
grades and classes, thus providing simultaneously for an Increasing number 
of appointments and promotions of members of other communities. All 
communities would then know precisely where they stood and every 
year would thus see progress towards elimination. 
Holidays and Leave. 
We now turn to questions relating to holidays and leave, The 
position is complicated by the partial application of the Fundamental 
Rules and the introduction of various sets of leave periods that differ, 
not only between railway and railway but also between similar depart- 
ments in the same railway. The distinctions drawn between higher and 
lower grades are very marked, as also are those between monthly and 
daily-rated servants. In the large workshops where, as a rule, labourers 
are on daily rates of pay, it is customary to allow workers about 15 holi- 
days on full pay : on one railway the number falls as low as 6, in another it 
rises to 20, and in yet, another regular attendance may result in 29 holidays 
on full pay, inaddition to the prescribed weekly rest day and some local 
holidays for which no pay is given. In one large workshop workers 
employed on monthly rates have leave determined according to scales 
of pay ; a worker of one year’s service drawing less than Rs. 21 monthly 
is not eligible for Jeave, but in common with others gets 15 holidays with. 
out deduction of pay; a worker in receipt of Rs. 45 monthly or over is 
eligible for 15 days’ casual leave annually on full pay, one day’s privilege 
leave on full pay for eleven days’ duty, sick leave on half pay and special 
leave not exceeding six months on half pay. Yet in a similar large 
workshop not many miles away under the same administration, the same