146
Engines and Men
a very successful fight, for the membership grew, and the total funds at the end of the year stood at £182,883. The movements of the year were in regard to eyesight and medical tests, a deputation to the Board of Trade having the support of Mr. Secker Walker, the eyesight specialist, who had testified to the value of corrective lenses for men on the footplate, both for security, protection, and comfort. These, and wages movements, and the slow reduction of hours, occupied attention until the opening of the crisis of 1911, when the Society, for the first time, sanctioned a national strike of all enginemen.
