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/314

 about the Board of Trade appointing practical men. I would prefer it to be a Committee drawn from the locomotive superintendents of the railways, with representatives of the men.

Sir Herbert Walker: In view of what took place at the commencement of the meeting, we have dealt with all your points.

Mr. Bromiey: Except the great point of wages.

Wages and promotion, therefore, predominated during June, but Friday, July 11th, saw the Society on the eve of a very serious duel outside the Conference-room. The Great Northern Railway. despite the fact that men were needed and lines were clogged with traffic, would not reinstate those young men who had joined the forces without the permission of the Company. In June they grudgingly conceded the right of reinstatement, but without seniority, and the General Secretary advised all members to refuse anything short of full seniority. On July 11th the N.U.R. sent a wire as to their decision, and asked for a meeting of the two Executives. Arrangements were made to stop the system, when the G.N.R. gave way, under a letter of instruction from the Board of Trade. This ruling settled also the attitude of the Caledonian, which was copying the G.N.R.

Exactly seven days later, Friday, July 18th, events had reached a crisis on the North Eastern system, and the Company had the surprise of their lives. With automatic precision, Carlisle, Gateshead, Newcastle, Sunderland, York, Leeds and other centres followed each other with the adoption of a down tools policy, until the entire system was dislocated, and the North-East of England was isolated. Extraordinary scenes resulted. Rich people travelled from Leeds to Scarborough by aeroplane, and every available motor was seized, at prices up to £20 for the trip, to reach distant towns. But not all the aeroplanes and motors could dispense with the man on the footplate, and thousands of extra telegrams had to be sent. All this in a desperate effort to beat the men, an effort doomed to failure when men are solid. This dramatic example of how a great area can be isolated arose out of the dismissal of men who declined to submit to the Company's very harsh eyesight test, and the demand