Page:Fred Arthur McKenzie - British Railways and the War (1917).djvu/27

 emergency action arising out of circumstances created by the war, and would not prejudice in any way the undertaking given by the railway companies as to the re-employment of men who had joined the Colours, on the conclusion of the war. The pay of women in grades in which they were not engaged in August, 1914, was fixed at the minimum pay of the grade. At first women were not granted a war bonus; but in November, 1916, it was arranged that women of eighteen years of age and over should be given a bonus of 3s. a week and those under eighteen years of age 1s. 6d. This amount was later increased to 5s. 6d. a week for the seniors and 2s. 9d. for the juniors.

No statements have been issued showing the final balance-sheet of the railways under Government administration, and any such statement would be very difficult to make out, since a vast quantity of Government traffic not credited under the war arrangements would have to be charged up in attempting to make any fair balance-sheet.

In December, 1916, Mr. Bonar Law, speaking officially in the House of Commons, said that the Government agreement with the railway companies, notwithstanding the grant of the war bonus to railway employees, had "involved no financial loss, but probably some gain." When we contrast the working of the railways under Government supervision with the working of the British shipping independently, the gains of the