RAILWAYS, 
139 
(2) labour employed in the transportation and commercial departments, 
including station, running and shed staffs; and (3) labour employed 
in the workshops of the mechanical departments. 
Engineering, 
The engineering department gives employment to the largest 
single class of labour, namely, gangmen who are largely unskilled and 
consist mainly of hereditary agriculturalists with a decided preference 
for agricultural work. As a result, being generally recruited locally, 
they are inclined to absent themselves at sowing and harvest seasons. 
in order to work on the land. They are engaged by the permanent 
way inspectors who also appoint the semi-skilled workers. The skilled 
artisans are partly recruited by these mspectors or by works sub- 
ordinates concerned. We recommend that proper registers be kept of 
all workers appointed to this department and that inspectors and other 
officers concerned should be required to report appointments and dismissals. 
without delay for entry in the registers. These registers should be 
regularly examined by administrative and personnel officers with a view 
50 ascertaining whether the labour turnover is larger than it should be 
and, if so, to taking immediate steps to remove the causes. 
Transportation and Commercial. 
The transportation and commercial departments cover a wide 
range. Porters and other unskilled workers about the stations are 
usually recruited by station masters or traffic inspectors. The latter 
also appoint pointsmen, signalmen, shunting porters and other 
semi-skilled labour, while artisans and other skilled workers are 
appointed by senior subordinates. We recommend that, asin the case of 
the engineering department, appointments to and dismissals from all 
these posts be reported and proper registers kept and examined. 
Similar procedure should be adopted for the appointment of fitters, 
cleaners and similar workers in the locomotive sheds. We further 
recommend that firemen, shunters and drivers should be selected 
for appointment and promotion by selection boards or commit- 
bees as 1s already the practice on some railways for signallers, 
assistant station masters, guards, goods and coaching clerks, and other 
literate employees who are required to pass examinations. We are 
informed that the system of recruitment by selection boards or com- 
mittees is now being more generally adopted in the case of the staff 
required to fill those categories classed as literate and also classes in 
which employees start ag apprentices. This system should tend to 
eliminate possibilities of personal bias and favouritism. We therefore 
recommend that it should be put into force on all railways in connec- 
tion with both recruitment and promotion of employees in all these 
classes. We welcome the increasing provision of opportunities for 
training and apprenticeships as the extension of these facilities will 
be of immense assistance in securing increased efficiency. Sons and 
other near relations of railway servants, particularly those living in