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CHAPTER IX, 
railway colonies, have a special claim to enter the service, and we 
therefore recommend that, wherever possible, facilities for suitable 
education and training be afforded them. Elsewhere the question of 
education of workers and their children is dealt with ; but, in view of the 
policy formulated by the Railway Board as the result of the recent 
enquiry by an officer of the Indian Educational Service, our opinion 
is that existing facilities should be continued until such time as suitable 
alternative provision is. made. 
Mechanical Workshops. 
The other important class of railway servants to be considered 
is that engaged in large workshops, usually locomotive, carriage and 
wagon shops, where labour is recruited as and when required. 
The supply of unskilled labour is plentiful, and the general prac- 
tice is for candidates to be appointed by works managers on the 
recommendation. of foremen. It appears that, as a rule, semi-skilled men 
are recruited by promotion after acquiring some skill and experience in 
the unskilled ranks, and some ultimately develop into skilled workers 
earning promotion according to merit. Other skilled labour is obtained 
from outside applicants trained in particular trades and, to a small but 
increasing extent, from apprentices drawn from literate or semi-literate 
classes and trained in the shops for periods of from four to six years. Un- 
like the maintenance staff and those grades who perform their duties along 
the lines under conditions that make the adoption of new methods of 
recruitment difficult, if not impracticable, large bodies of workshop 
employees are concentrated in particular centres and live and work 
ander conditions that lend themselves readily to improved systems 
of recruitment and appointment. Already the recruitment of 
labourers and artisans in some of the mechanical shops is arranged by 
labour bureaux. These, with the assistance of the works managers 
and foremen concerned, select men who, after suitable tests under 
the supervision of employment officers or assistant employment 
officers, are rated according to ability by these officers and appointed 
accordingly. We believe that this system could be developed and, 
together with the system of selection boards or committees already 
mentioned, would enable almost all the employees in the larger work- 
shops and many of the lower paid workers at large stations to be 
recruited, appointed and promoted in a manner that would go a long way 
towards removing grounds for complaints of favouritism and bribery. 
These principles, if more widely applied, should prove of the 
greatest value, not only to the workers in the lower grades, but 
also to the supervising and other staffs against whom complaints 
are made. It is naturally difficult to obtain direct evidence from 
either givers or takers of bribes, but there is a widespread belief that 
employment and promotion can be materially assisted by methods 
which ought not to be possible in highly organised services. The 
elimination of bribery depends most upon the spread of knowledge and 
the development of character. Its complete elimination. therefore.