RAILWAYS. 157 
the exception of a few classes whuse work is frequently of an intermittent 
character and performed in 12 hour shifts. At smaller stations, where 
work as a rule is intermittent, the hours of duty are generally 9 to 12. 
Although generally less than 60 hours per week, the hours of effective: 
work on:some railways exceed that number. Shifts are changed periodical- 
ly to avoid continuous night duty, but there have been instances of em- 
ployees being required to work throughout at night. It is said that the 
weekly rest is now being conceded to station staff where their work is of 
a continuous nature. Generally no overtime is paid. 
The Railway Board states that the running staff provide the 
chief problem in connection with the application of the International 
Conventions, and under the draft rules it is proposed to exclude them: 
from the scope of the Conventions pending further enquiries. In normal 
bimes a large percentage of this staff is said to work within the 60 hour 
weekly limit. On some lines, however, it is common for drivers, firemen 
and guards to work up to 77 and 80 hours weekly and even longer, with 
the result that these workers are unable to get the full benefit either of 
the limitation on working hours or of the provision of weekly periods of 
rest. Overtime, therefore, is paid to a considerable extent in the 
shape of increased mileage allowance to guards and of overtime and other 
allowances to drivers and firemen. : 
Hours of Employment Rules. 
Committees of the Indian Railway Conference Association were 
appointed to explore the special problems of the different railways with 
a view to arriving at some measure of uniformity and submitted their 
reports in 1925 and 1927. Thereafter officers were placed on duty to 
expedite matters, and an abridged memorandum on the subject was dis- 
bributed on the railways last year. This memorandum contained a 
summary of the positivn in June 1930 with copies of the Act and of the 
proposed Rules and supplementary instructions, as well as different types 
of rosters, in order to give all concerned opportunities of considering the 
proposals. The Railway Servants Hours of Employment Rules, 1931, 
have now been published and are being put into effect. They provide 
for the limitation of hours of work and of grants of periodical rests to cer- 
bain classes of railway servants, but exclude from their operation 
(a) running staff, namely :-—drivers, guards and others who 
habitually work on running trains ; 
(5) watchmen, watermen, sweepers and gatekeepers whose em- 
ployment may be declared to be essentially intermittent 
and of a specially light character ; 
Persons im positions of supervision or management or in con- 
fidential employment ; 
persons employed in factories and mines coming within the 
scone of the Factories and Mines Acts. 
(c) 
Application of the Rules. 
The Rules provide that periods of rest of less than the normal 
scale may be granted in the case of permanent way and engineering