THE ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13335, 29 January 1909, Page 7

THE ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS.

OBSOLETE MACHINERY.

ABSENCE OF SYSTEM

One of the men engaged at the x\ddington Workshops made, a statement yesterday to v "l'ress" re-porter, which put the men's side of the case, in a nutshell, lie said that there was some considerable feeling on. the matter, and that in justice to the raeu one line ot tneir deienco should hv niaae public at once.

Tue. line of defence referred to was a positive on©—the obsoiote character ot the appliances at the workshops, by the aid ot winch tho men were supposed to produce results equal in cheapness and quality to these ot other shops. ""TaKo the. cost of one ot" tho engines constructed tor tho Alain Trunk line. One of the boiler plates was in. tho rollers et Addiugion for about eight weeks, simply on. account of tho machine being hopelessly out of date. In rolling boiler plates an up-to-daio plant will do tho work v»*ith a man. and three lads at 30s a day, and do ono plate a day. At Addiftgton, with mc. innchine xn use, tho cost is favo men at £2 15s a day, and they may l>o three weeks on iho job. At the Adding ton. bnopa th© men are expected, working with obsolete machinery, to competo with outeide firms ■which have, up-to-date machinery. For instance, the punching machines at Addington have been- in the establishment for tho last thirty years, and are entirely out of date.. It is impossible to do any quicK work -with the obsolete machines wo have to work with. Tho manner in which rivets are put in by one of the hydraulic machines would appear absurd to a casual observer. 'J 'ho boiler is lifted and adjusted in a crane, ami one sido of tno foundation ring is riveted. The boiler is. then lowered out of the crane,, the hydraulic machine is lifted entirely out of its bed. turned I round, coupled up afreeh in a different position, the boiler is reliftod, a.ndi so they go_ on witli their work until its completion. To anyone who is conversant with an engineer's chop this must appear to bo false economy. Tho cranes which do tho lifting. are. very often manned by throe- or four men. In an outsido firm, -with the same amount of machinery, the cranes would be driven either by electricity or by .an. endless belt, occupying the attention, of only one man, ami an. attendant to look after th© boiler. '"The accumulators aro very often, supposed , to serve three or four hydraulic machines. It has often been, observed in the shop that the accumulators come down with a bang, and; shako everything round about them. "Tools in tho same department aTO very hardi to find. Tho regulations' require that every man nhall 'bo provided with a'cupboaTd, and that his cupboard shall be inspected every si x months. Such, an inspection has not taken place at any timo within, the knowledge of unyono in the Department, et least for some very oonsid'erable timo. Somo men have l>een left for a period) of two years without even a cupboard. These men are tradesmen, their tools havo been very few., and they have to re-1 gsird them as though they were. dia-J monds. "In regard to the blacksmiths' shop, it li<is been known for a blacksmith to take, probably half an hour to liout up a. piece, of 9in roiuid steel, and' plaoe it under the largo steam hammer. As soon as tiro steam is released in the cylinder of tho luammcr, it would, come. I'.'cwn. with a thud , , and: stay in that position until tho steel was fx> cold' that the. men- wouM bo absolutely disgusted with th© whole show, In €he meantime, there would bo a large number of blacksmiths aaid- their mates standing and ■watching, with their "heats" im the. fire, waiting to place them under the steam hammer. This has been , going on for a considerable period-; and th© men do not think that they are to ibiame for delays caused by obsolete machinery. "In reference to the flanging of largo plates, I may state that in up-to-date places they havo hydraulic machines for this purpose. At Addington it is don© by manual labour. With a flanging machine you require three or four men, andi the whole procses is over in five minutes. The .method now in vogue in Addington requiree about eight men, and the process takes as much es half a day. How can we compete against firms which us© ■ the machineP "In comparing the cost- of engines built J>y Price Bros. arid: the Addington Workshops it has never been taken into consideration that Addington has to bear the cost of a large staff of officers. There is a very large staff of foremen and leading hands engaged? at' Addington, which you would not find at Price Bros.'" Our informant said that the men at Addington had frequently to wait their turns to use machines, and also for tools. They had to dodge the manager and foreman. They could not stroll about with pipes in their mouths, but they did not want to be hauled over the coals, and had to appear to be working. , In regard to the enquiry, our informant said that th© men would bo satisfied with nothing less than a public enquiry or a Royal Commission. If it was a departmental enquiry, what would be the position of the men who came forward? Who was going to be on the Bench? ■ Were the men who were really on their* trial going to try the men lower or were the officers going to be tried as -well as the men? The men thought that there should I>e a Magistrate, or even a Judge of the Supreme ( Court, on the tribunal. What th«y. said was tliat tho machinery at Addington was obsolete: that there was no system, or method-; and . jtbat, given up-to-date appliances, they would be able to compete with any outside, or private firm.

Yesterday a telegram sinned jointly by Messrs Laurenson, Ell, AVitty, Russell, and Davey, M.'P.'s, was despatched to tho Hon. .J. A. Millar, Minister of Railways, asking him to make the enquiry into the charges against the employees at the Addington Railway Workshops as public as possiblej so that the people of the Dominion would be able to decide whether or not tho charges were groxindless. The following reply was received:—"Rβ enquiry, Addington: It is proposed to hold pablic enquiry, not & Departmental one. It will be liejd by persons altogether outside tho Railway service, and will be open to the Press. I think yon will agree that it cannot be more public than this, and when the details are published I think you will bo satisfied. —J. A. Millar."

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELBGBAVr.) AUCKLAND, January 28. Asked whether the genera] scheme of retrenchment which is reported , to have been authorised -will be evidenced ia the Railway Department, the Hon. J. A. Millar said it was now necessary to dispose of some of those workmen whi> were taken on to do a particular work. There would bo no retrenchment as far as the general etaff of the Hailway Department was concerned. Asked could he impart any information as to -the constitution of the Commission of Enquiry which he had promised to set up in regard to the allegation against the employees in the A"ddlngton Workshops, the Minister replied' that it -would consist of three gentlemen outside tho Railway Service ; it would not be a Magisterial enquiry, and it would be open to the Press. "When he received information from these gentlemen, he -would be in a position to disclose their names.