COLONIAL v BRITISH WORKMEN.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12603, 20 September 1906, Page 8

COLONIAL v BRITISH WORKMEN.

AN 'INTERESTING OOMPARI9ON.

Mr W. "Wl. Smith, contractor for the Machinery Hall. Victoria Court and aabeidiary portions of the Exhibition bcrihiings, had something of interest to say yesterday, when scon by a reporter, respecting the relative merits of New Zealar_d-borr. artisans and their brethren of the hammer and the saw who have learned their trade in the Mother Country. Mr Smith 6tated that when he exunmenced operations on hie several Exhibition tasks he was personally acquainted with onjy two or three of the men working under ham, and he has provided constant employment, on an average, for fifty dtiring the several months over which his undertaking has extended. The bulk of the workers came from other parts of the colony, being attracted hitlier by the prospect of weLUreiminerated employment. Mr Smith is of opinion uiat the standard of skill in tho building trade varies but little, if at all, taking New Zealand as a whole; and it is a tribute at onoo to the careful oversight be has exercised upon everything, and to the workmanlike ability of his operatives that no single accident—"not even so much as a cut finger"—has occurred dumiing tho progress of the contract which is now practically completed. Asked whether ho had been fortunate enough to secure the services of any of the carpenters included among the immigrants roocrn/tlly arriving from Home, Mr Smith replied that quite a mimber of them had worked for him. Some proved rank duffers; others were fairly good, while one (from Glasgow) was as good as tho best of the colonial contingent. Mr Smith, who, by tho way, learned his trade in Scotland, is decidedly of opinion l \i* the New Zealand artisan can hold his own, with eimikiT types of workers from any part of tho world: although, he added in extenuation of the shortcomings of the imported article, that he is less accustomed to the wooden buildings that the exigencies of the New Zealand trade demand than ho should be before ranking_ as a thoroughly well-equdpped competitor with his colonaal confrere. New Zealanders, Mr Smith discovers, are more adaptable and self-reliant and much less stereotyped in their methods than the average British workman.