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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.