Page:Engines and men- the history of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. A survey of organisation of railways and railway locomotive men (IA enginesmenhistor00rayniala).pdf/103

 future and I trust the Society will be highly gratified by the appointment.

Yours truly, T. G. SUNTER, General Secretary.

The appointment continued during three active years, but on February 19th, 1890, the committee accepted Mr. Stretton's resignation. Differences of opinion and the irrepressible personality of Mr. Stretton led to the parting of the ways. He was a publicist, giving his views on every railway issue very promptly and ably, but not always in a manner that expressed the views of his Executive. Once or twice they had to dissociate themselves from his views in the railway journals, and to request Mr. Stretton not to attach his capacity as their consulting engineer to his public expressions of opinions.

This became especially compromising over what was known as the "dot and wool tests" for eyesight. These tests were both severe and absurd. The "dot" test consisted of a series of quarter-inch dots to be counted at fifteen feet distance. The "wool" test consisted of a series of fifty shades of wool, and the driver and fireman had to name them, sort them and match them, as if they were young ladies seeking employment in a fancy goods shop, or aspired to be painters or dyers. As a practical test for railway work they were useless, and tests of a more practical nature were demanded. The history of the eyesight test is a long one, emerging at periods throughout the history of the Society.

Late in the year 1887 there was a wage movement on the North Eastern system. It included drivers, firemen, guards, mineral guards, and signalmen, and the claim submitted to the directors early in 1888 included the following clauses:

"Engine drivers to commence at 5s, per day; after six months 5s. 6d.; after one year 5s. 9d.; third year 6s.; fourth year 6s. 3d; fifth 6s. 6d.; sixth 6s. 9d.; seventh 7s.; express drivers 7s. 6d, per day. Firemen to commence at 3s. per day;