The third day of this Conference continued from 9 a.m, to 11 p.m., and "afterwards" a general discussion took place on the desirability of a widows' and orphans' fund. It was brought before branches, and the Benevolent Fund of 1889 was the result. A change which was coming over the working conditions at the time was the steady abolition of the system of fines and suspensions for alleged offences. As companies discovered the men really had a strong society, and a sum of £10,000 behind them, and that unjust fines and suspension losses were paid back, the companies resorted to an alternative method of reducing rates of pay, and the 1889 Conference had to find special means of dealing with that practice. It will be noticed, too, that entrants beyond 40 years of age were not catered for. This exclusion was due to a discovery of the large-hearted error of the founders. It was possible, during the first eight years, for an elderly worker to join, to pay a matter of £1 in regular contributions for eighteen months, and then to fall back on superannuation at £13 a year. As this possibility was made use of, it endangered the solvency of the Society, and a remedy was devised as stated in 1889.
We have now passed, therefore, through the period of evolution of railways, and through the evolution of societies, but decidedly not through the evolution of decent hours, wages and conditions for the men piloting this great institution. The typical figure representative of railway life is the driver, and it is his fortune and his organised effort we will follow through the years.
