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Keeping Men on Track: the Management of Single Male Employees by the New Zealand Government Railways Department 1923-1940

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Keeping Men on Track: the Management of Single Male Employees by the New Zealand Government Railways Department 1923-1940 Keeping Men on Track: The Management of Single Male Employees by the New Zealand Government Railways Department 1923-1940 By Robert Campbell David Kelly A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in New Zealand Studies Victoria University of Wellington 2015 1 Abstract The New Zealand Government Railways Department undertook a wide range of reforms in the 1920s as a result of concerns about the threat of road competition and the longevity of New Zealand’s railway infrastructure. Some of these reforms were structural and financial, but many were motivated by desires to create a more efficient, modern and useful workforce. Unmarried men made up a third of the NZGRD’s workforce in 1927 and this thesis is an investigation of how the management of the NZGRD attempted to mould them. By investigating and analysing the ways in which the New Zealand Railways Department communicated with its workforce, this study will address how the New Zealand Government Railways Department used soft power to affect its worker’s lives. From the designs of railway houses through the range of publications given to employees the New Zealand Railway Department had indirect influence on almost every aspect of the lives of their employees, from their physical existence to what art and literature they were exposed to. 2 Acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to my parents Anne Kelly and David Kelly, for their tireless support of me in everything I do. For taking me to Hadrian’s Wall, Crete and the Bay of Islands, and always encouraging me to be curious about the world. Thank you to my dedicated and wonderfully kind supervisors Anna Green and Lydia Wevers for their support and for encouraging me to undertake this project. Their dedicated supervision and enthusiasm is inspiring. My thanks also to Simon Nathan, Richard Hill and everyone else at the Stout Centre for making me feel welcome and being genuinely interested in what I was doing. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Gregor Fountain and Edwin West for teaching me New Zealand history at Wellington College, for making me aware of how dynamic and exciting it can be, and for showing me how important it is. I am extremely grateful to the people who I have undertaken this post-graduate journey with over the last two and a half years. You are all special to me and I have relished the chance to work and grow with all of you. Special mention must go to Nicola Braid for her contribution to the process of titling this thesis. My special thanks to Joe Drysdale, Oliver Beyer, Joss Graham, Alyse Cooper, Andrew Hampton, Michael Van Zigl, Claire Taylor, Lucita Peek, Nick Stewart, Ben Mackey, Tim O’Regan, Krishan Kumar and Rob Bromley for being the most supportive friends and flatmates a man could ask for. For paying for lunch, for talking me down when it all felt like too much, and for simply being there. I love you all. Finally this thesis is for Geoff, always and always for Geoff. I miss you brother. 3 Contents Chapter One: “A More Satisfied Staff”.................................................................................. 7 Society and Culture ......................................................................................................... 11 Sober yet Capable ............................................................................................................ 21 Tracts about Trains .......................................................................................................... 26 Men in the Mines ............................................................................................................. 30 Chapter Two: Managers, Ministers and Scientific Management .......................................... 34 The Cleaner and the Chain of Command.......................................................................... 34 Taylored for the Dominion .............................................................................................. 37 The Looming Threat of Motor Transport ......................................................................... 43 Railway Statements and the Efficiency of Reform ........................................................... 44 Fay and Raven ................................................................................................................. 48 Coates’ Findings .............................................................................................................. 49 “Useful Citizens and Capable Business Men” .................................................................. 50 What’s in a Hut? .............................................................................................................. 53 Chapter Three: “For Better Service”: The New Zealand Railways Magazine ....................... 55 For Better Service ............................................................................................................ 58 Ministerial Intent ............................................................................................................. 60 Editorial .......................................................................................................................... 61 E.T. Spidy – Production Engineering and Scientific Management .................................... 63 A Literary Page or Two ................................................................................................... 68 “Hard Shelled Bachelors” ................................................................................................ 72 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 75 Chapter Four: Bunks and Burners; Railway Lodging Huts .................................................. 77 “There is No Social Life” ................................................................................................ 77 Dwellings of all Kinds ..................................................................................................... 80 Chief Architect ................................................................................................................ 81 Railways Housing Scheme .............................................................................................. 83 “A Great Profit”: McVilly’s Purported Purpose ............................................................... 91 Four Walls and a Roof ..................................................................................................... 94 Living Space.................................................................................................................... 96 Requests Made ................................................................................................................ 98 4 Chapter Five: Words to Live By: Your Hut Your Home .................................................... 106 Manual Labour .............................................................................................................. 108 Your Hut Your Home .................................................................................................... 109 “Cleanliness” ................................................................................................................. 111 “A Final Thought on Cooking” ...................................................................................... 116 “The National Beverage” ............................................................................................... 119 “Is It All Worthwhile?”.................................................................................................. 121 Their Huts, Your Homes ................................................................................................ 122 Chapter Six: Conclusion .................................................................................................... 125 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 128 Primary Sources ............................................................................................................ 128 Secondary Sources......................................................................................................... 131 5 Abbreviations ASRS Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants NZGRD New Zealand Government Railways Department YHYH ‘Your Hut Your Home’ 6 Chapter One: “A More Satisfied Staff” Between 1923 and 1928 the New Zealand Government Railways Department (NZGRD) went through a series of fundamental changes, which included a new approach to managing the railway workforce. Influenced by the ideas of scientific management, the Minister in charge of the Railways, Gordon Coates, initiated changes that encompassed the life of men at work and at home. This thesis will focus upon the particular attention paid to the lives of single railway men from 1923 to 1940. The department’s approach to its workers was influenced by ideas of scientific management, national identity and the construction of an image of the desirable modern railwayman. While these motivations affected the way all employees of the railways were employed and approached by the NZGRD, the single male employees present a point of difference. They were affected in the same ways by the ethos that drove the changes, but the ways that those motivations translated into actions by management were very different for these men. The ways they were housed, the cultural
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