ATTEMPT TO DICTATE?

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 218, 15 September 1930, Page 5

ATTEMPT TO DICTATE?

COUNTIES' WAGE POLICY. RESENTMENT EXPRESSED. TRIBUTE TO SURFACEMEN'S WORK A suggestion that tho Main Highways Board might dictate the wages policy of local bodies was strongly objected to by the Whangarei County Council at its last meeting. A circular dispatclicd to all county councils stated that for the purpose of subsidy the wages rates allowable by the Main Highways Board were either the Arbitration Court awards (where the local body was bound by them), or the ruling rates for Public Works employees in the district in which the' work' was in operation. The district, engineer advised that the payment of the council's claims for the quarter that ended on June 30 last for maintenance on highways had been held up on account of the wages' paid being at a rate beyond that now allowed by the Main Highways Board. In reference to drivers of power machines, it was recommended that when not working on their machines, but on ordinary manual roadwork, they should be paid 14/ a day, ■instead of their present wage. Some trenchant criticism was offered by the county clerk, Mr. H. C. Hemphill, who said that, considering the wages controversy had been the subject of conferences for a considerable time, it was particularly unfortunate that the claims had been hung up in the middle of a, quarter. Another complication was that the board demanded that the reductions be made' retrospective as from A.pril 1 last. The clerk said that it had. taiken the council some years to get its present team'*, of perma- | nent employees together. Their position j was totally dissimiliar to that of men ' employed, on relief' works. They were responsible to the council for tallies, and ! provided their own transportation. . To overcome this, the district engineer had suggested provision of a tent to each surfaceman, but Mr. Hemphill ridiculed the suggestion that a man should carry his tent, like a snail, on his back, and at nightfall creep into it.. The suggested reductions were nothing more than an attack on , the. efficiency of county organisation. "Foolish Suggestion." The county chairman, Mr. Luke Webb, said that if the proposals were enforced the council would lose its best men, some of whom had been very hard to get. The suggestion that : surfacemen should be supplied with tents was very foolish. It was ridiculous that the Highways Board should, dictate the policy of county councils in such matters. Mr. T. Blake described each permanent surfaceman as a foreman; there was often no one to direct him, but he saw what was required, and did it. Mr. J. A. S. Mackay said that the surfaceman in Wairua riding .often travelled in his own car 14 or 15 miles to work, and to ask -him to do. .that on 14/ a day was out of'the question. Mr.: Mackay quoted a statement by the Prime Minister that the actual cost of relief works was £7 per man. If some of the relief ..workers. were worth £7 a week, he had no hesitation in stating that most of the men employed permanently by the Whangarei County were worth £20. Mr. F. Elliott: You better not go near a relief camp. Mr. L. A. Johnson characterised the proposals as absurd. In the first place, it would be a very cruel thing to ask a man to refund part of the wages earned by him since April. In addition to the honest day's work and the tallies he took for councillors, it must not be forgotten that the surfaceman carried most of the responsibility for looking after machinery and equipment. In recent years the council's repairing and renewal bill had fallen a great deal, arid for this state of affairs he paid tribute to the good attention of permanent men. "Should Not Interfere." It was the duty of county councils to obtain the best valuo for the money they expended, and while they were doing this the Highways Board should not interfere by dictatinga policy which was unsound. Mr. Johnson suggested the ridiculous proposal that surfacemen be provided with tents be replied to in equally* ridiculous' terms by stating that" the council was unable to do this, as it had not called tenders for tents in its annual supplies.' Mr. F. Elliott, although supporting the general protest,,said that wages had to be reduced, and that before very Jong, and whether it was liked or not. Even if surfacemen's wages were reduced from 16/ to 14/, the incomes of most ratepayers would reduced in a much greater proportion this season. The chairman said that if reductions were contemplated, relief workers should have been. the first affected. The council's protest will be forwarded to northern members of Parliament, with a request that they take action. I