RAILWAYS,

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(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 subordinates
 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 commitbees
 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 committees
 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 connection
 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