In the meantime, machinery exists for dealing with any question of excessive hours or insufficient remuneration arising out of war conditions."
So far, this was an important statement. It meant that the Board of Trade would assist the Society in preventing excessive hours, and gave the Executive power to again approach the Railway Executive for increased remuneration, despite the fact that the Government had turned the War Bonus into War Wages, without asking the Society. The Government, however, had refused to institute the eight hour day during the war, and in view of the resolutions passed by the A.A.D. in May, the Executive felt it had no alternative but to summon the delegates to London, to give instructions as to the next step. The resolutions referred to, adopted at Leeds in May, were:—
1.—Instructing the Executive to immediately open up negotiations with the Railway Executive, and demand that the full advantage of Clause 72 be immediately given to locomotivemen, electric motormen, and electric trainmen, and also that machinery be put in operation whereby our National Programme may be presented and obtained without delay. We further instruct the Executive that under no circumstances will we be bound by any agreement or machinery that takes away from the locomotivemen the right to manage their own affairs.2.—That this Conference. . . .give our Executive Committee the same powers they have exercised in the past, relying on them when the necessary assistance or pressure is required, to call upon us, or to refer the matters in dispute back to the members for their acceptance or otherwise. This last clause is to be adhered to should any compromise be suggested on the question of the eight hour day.
This assistance was now called for. The Government had never taken a really serious view of the matter until August 15th, relying until then on the Press misrepresentation of the claim as being
