Railways a National Industry 437 



that of a season ticket between Cockerhill and Glasgow for 

 themselves or for members of their household at the nominal 

 charge of five shillings a year. 



One of the latest developments in connection with the 

 housing of railway companies' workers has been on the Great 

 Eastern Railway, the chairman of the company, Lord Claud 

 Hamilton, saying at the half-yearly meeting on July 28, 

 1911 : 



" We have been asked by a portion of our staff to do some- 

 thing for them in respect of cottages, for although in some 

 districts they can obtain adequate lodging, in other districts 

 it is exceedingly difficult to obtain, at a reasonable rent, the 

 decent accommodation which they require. Now that our 

 prospects are improving, we have settled as from the ist of 

 July to spend 10,000 a year on cottages for our workmen. 

 It is not a large sum, but it is as much as we can afford, and 

 I must tell you we can only expect to get, at the most, 2^ 

 per cent interest on that money. But although that is a low 

 rate of interest, and not remunerative, the extra comfort, 

 satisfaction and happiness which these men and their families 

 will derive from healthy and adequate accommodation repays 

 us, I am sure, indirectly, over and over again in their more 

 willing service to their employers." 



Railwaymen have, again, exceptional opportunities for 

 getting cheap holidays. In addition to the regular holidays 

 given to members of the salaried staff, most of the grades 

 of the wages staff who have a certain period of service to 

 their credit get from three to six days' holiday a year, with 

 pay. In some cases the railway company provide special 

 trains enabling their employees in some railway colony 

 Swindon, for example to take a holiday en masse, the said 

 colony becoming, temporarily, a deserted village. The free 

 passes given to members of the staff are sometimes available 

 for travel over the lines of other companies as well. 



The concession, also, to railway servants of what are 

 known as " privilege tickets " enables them and their 

 families to travel at exceptionally low rates. These tickets 

 are granted so freely that the number issued by one com- 

 pany alone during the course of a single year has been nearly 

 800,000. 



Provision for the railwayman's old age is assured by super- 



