The Press. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1902. THE DISMISSAL OF CO-OPERATIVE LABOURERS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11190, 3 February 1902, Page 4

The Press. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1902. THE DISMISSAL OF CO-OPERATIVE LABOURERS.

The visit of our reporter to Waipara, and his conversations witfli tike co-operative labourers who have been suddenly turned adrift by the Government, show, that on the whole, the men and Hheir wives display a commendaible spirit of cheerfulnessjind seif-refiance. There is much justice in tiheir complaint, however, that they have been given scant notice of dismissal, and that it is highly improbable ihey would have been (treated in ■&« same -way by any private employer. Some of them say tihat if they had known at Christmas that there was a likelihood of the work (being stopped they would hay« 'been less free with their money during t3*at festive season, and would have kept some for the approaching "Tainy day." Of course it is easy to say tihat a prudent working man wouM never count on Ms employment being permanent, but would always take care to keep a "shot in the looker" for emergencies, and tihat in any case even the Government could not be expected to give a month or six weeks' notice of its intentions. The unfortunate part of it is that the Minister for Public Works, so far from giving any inkling of thus "bolt from *he blue," grossly misled botlh *he workmen and settlers, by promising that the Cheviot Railway ehould be vigorously pushed on, and that the section to Scargall should be opened by March 21st. If he could not give the men timely warning to prepare for being tihrown out of work, he might, at least, have refrained from leading them into a fool's paradise by giving tihem to understand (that the railway was to be gone on with at all hazards, as being the Government's best contribution to aid the distressed settlers in the troubles tkrougb* about by the earthquake. They lkiUe tihougtßt at that time that what he really had in preparation was another earthquake shook, almost as bad as tihe first, although differing in kind.

Aβ to the cause of this eudd«n and wholesale stoppage of public •works, the Government give us such contradictory reasons for tiheir action, the* it is difficult to know -which they -wish us to believe. At one time we have Mr. Seddon declaring with an air of hiigh public rectitude—which does not altogether si* "well in such a quarter— -that he -will not be a party to Parliamentary votes being exceeded. This is a very commendable resolve, but seems to come a little late -when we uemeraber haw grossly Parliamentary authority was exceeded in the expenditure on ttue Parliamentary Library, to say nothing of the pipers, Maoris and military bodyguard got together at great expense to add to the Premier's importance. a<s the inauguration of the Commonwealth. But, if the latest statement made by the Premier at Auckland is to be accepted, the Parliamentary appropriations for 'public works have not been exceeded, 'and there is still a fair balance for expenditure during the remainder of the financial year. If that is so, why are the most important works—the North island Trunk Railway and the Cheviot Railway, among others, brought to this sudden standstill? The break has

been applied with a frantic energy strongly suggestive of a. panic-stricken guard who sees disaster imminent. It is simple nonsense to say that the railway works can be carried on as expeditiously and as economically in. winter as they can in the summer, and that the Government are simply discharging the men now so tiat they can get private employment. Actual figures have been given* to show that on the North Island .Trunk Railway the cost of cartage rises to a most extravagant figure in winter, and it is altogether opposed to common sense when we are asked to believe that it is as economical for men to work in. broken weather and np to their knees in mvd 1 or water, in railway formation, as it is in the summer. There is little doubt in our mind that there 'has been a grave administrative bungle in the Pnblio Works Department, the consequence of which is that Mr. HallJones suddenly finds himself at the end of his resources, and so has to shut down. "While Parliament was sitting, men were put on the works regardless of cost, and! everything went on at a njerry pace. The constituencies affected were' pleased, the members were satisfied, and the immediate object, no doubt, was served. A day of reckoning, however, was inevitable, and it has now" arrived. Such recklessness and incompetence of administration would have been inexcusable in Ministers new to office. iln the case of a Minister for Pnblio Works who has been six years in power, as Mr. Hall-Janes boasts he has been, it is absoI frttely criminal.