Efficiency on the Indian Railways.

Mr. S. Whitehurst (Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Indian Peninsula Railways) who arrived in the Dominion recently on a holiday tour—and, incidentally, to study our own railway system—observed in an interview that labour troubles are unknown in the railway services of India. Speaking of railway conditions there he said:—“There were no unions and no interference with management, and dissatisfaction among the men was almost absent. The old Civil Service bogey of promotion by seniority had been done away with, and men were promoted purely on merit. This method was giving great satisfaction and ensuring greater efficiency. As nearly as possible I work my shops on the form principle, and we are able to assemble an engine in an hour.”

Mr. Whitehurst observed also that there were some 3,000 men employed in the locomotive department of the Jhansi shops, and over 2,000 in the car and wagon shops.

The Indian railway system was, he said, almost entirely under Government control, with a railway board of management.