The Short Title of this Act is “The Government Railways Department Classification Act Amendment Act, 1897,” and it shall form part of and be read with “The Government Railways Department Classification Act, 1896” (hereinafter called “the principal Act”).

2 Section 18 of principal Act amended.

Section eighteen of the principal Act is hereby amended by substituting the word “exceed” in lieu of the word “include.”

3 Maximum pay of crossing- and bridge-keepers.

The maximum pay of crossing-keepers and bridge-keepers shall be six shillings per diem in lieu of twenty-five shillings per week with house, or thirty shillings per week without house, as prescribed in the Schedule to the principal Act under the heading Second Division: Class I.: Traffic.”

4 Maximum number of porters of first grade.

The maximum number of members in the case of porters of the first grade, under the heading “Second Division: Class I.: Traffic,” in the said Schedule, shall not exceed fifty per centum of the total number of porters of the first and second grades under the same heading.

5 Classification of certain carpenters altered.

Carpenters shall be classed as tradesmen of the first grade in Subclass 2 under the heading “Second Division: Class 2: Locomotive,” in the said Schedule; and as leading tradesmen of the first grade in Subclass 2, and also as tradesmen of the second grade in Subclass 3, of the same division, under the heading “Class 3: Maintenance”:

Provided that nothing herein contained shall affect the existing classification of carpenters in any other class or subclass or grade.

6 Maximum number of enginemen of first grade.

The maximum number of members in the case of enginemen of the first grade in Subclass 5 of Class 2, Locomotive, shall be fifty per centum of the total number of enginemen, in lieu of thirty-three and one-third per centum as prescribed in the said Schedule under the heading “Second Division: Class 2: Locomotive.”

7 Maximum number of firemen of first grade.

The maximum number of members in the case of firemen of the first grade in Subclass 5 of Class 2, Locomotive, shall be fifty per centum of the total number of firemen, in lieu of thirty-three and one-third per centum as prescribed in the said Schedule under the heading “Second Division: Class 2: Locomotive.”

8 Rate of pay for apprentices.

With respect to persons who, after the coming into operation of this Act, are taken into the service of the department as apprentices, the rate of pay of apprentices as specified in the Second Division of the said Schedule shall not apply, and in lieu thereof the rate of pay of each such apprentice shall be as follows:—

During the first quarter of the whole term of the apprenticeship	Ten per centum	Of the maximum rate of pay payable under the said Schedule at the commencement of each such quarter to journeymen or skilled operatives in the service of the department in the same handicraft or occupation as that wherein the apprentice is employed.
During the second such quarter	Twenty per centum
During the third such quarter	Thirty per centum
During the last such quarter	Forty per centum

9 Rights of officers transferred from Civil Service to Railways Department preserved.

(1.)

The Governor may from time to time appoint any person now or hereafter holding any office in the Civil Service of the colony to any office in the Department of Government Railways open for traffic; and may transfer any such person to the said department, and direct what salary shall be paid to him, and in which division and class thereof he shall be placed under the provisions of the principal Act, and shall also name a date, past, present, or future, upon which such transfer shall take effect.

(2.)

On such appointment and transfer taking effect all the provisions of the principal Act and every other Act, and all regulations then or that may thereafter be in force relating to the said department, shall extend and apply to the person so appointed and transferred as aforesaid, who shall cease to have any rights in respect of his previous employment in the Civil Service, except as hereinafter expressly provided, that is to say,—

(a.)

The rights of every Civil servant, whether absolute or contingent, who shall be transferred to the said department shall, as regards claims for compensation for loss of office or for superannuation allowance, be and the same are hereby preserved up to the date when such transfer takes effect.

(b.)

If the services of any such person are dispensed with through any fault of his own, he shall not be entitled to any such compensation; but if, without having committed any such fault, his services are dispensed with by the department, or be desires to retire from the service of the department, he shall then receive such compensation for loss of office, calculated up to the date when his appointment and transfer to the Railway Department took effect, as he would have been legally entitled to had he ceased to have been in the Civil Service on such date: Provided that no such person shall be allowed to retire voluntarily from the service unless be gives three months’ previous notice to the Minister for Railways of his intention so to do.

(c.)

If any such person has a claim to superannuation allowance which he would have been legally entitled to had he remained in the Civil Service, he shall be entitled to retire from the service of the Railway Department upon such allowance, calculated up to the date when his appointment and transfer to the Railway Department took effect.

(3.)

All moneys to be applied in payment of any such compensation or superannuation allowance shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund, and, subject as aforesaid, shall be paid and allowed on the same terms and conditions as if the person affected had remained in the Civil Service of the colony.

10 Length of service may be taken into consideration in preparation of classification-list.

Nothing contained in subsection one of section four of the principal Act shall be construed to make it compulsory for the Minister to place any member of the department in a higher position on the classification-list than be would have held if length of service after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven, were taken into consideration in the preparation of such list. And in considering any objection made to the position of any member in the classification-list the Appeal Boards, if they deem it equitable so to do, may take into consideration such length of service.

11 Transfers.

Nothing contained in the principal or this Act shall operate or be construed to prevent any person employed in any position in the service of the department from attaining to any other position therein.

12 Principal Act modified.

The principal Act is hereby modified in so far as it conflicts with this Act.

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Government Railways Department Classification Act Amendment Act 1897