ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13374, 16 March 1909, Page 8

ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS.

THE ENQUIRY CONTINUED

VARIOUS VIEWS AND OPINIONS

Tim Addington Workshops enquiry iva.s rfsiimo.! at the Provincial Council Chamber yesterday, the members of the Board prc-.-X'.nt being Profiwaor Scott 'president >, and Messrs J. J. Niven and K. Roberts.

Mr A. L. Bc-attio represented the r>fficers nf the locomotive branch of the .'•rviro, ui:d Mr 11. Hampton appeared for the employees of the Addington Work si i ops. mi: iiknderson examined. The examination of Mr Henderson. foreman m t!ie boiler shop at tho AdilinLtoii workshops, was contin;ied. In reply to Mr Beattio, Mr Henders.nn fiiid that a very low percentage i>l rivet* had to bo cut out of boilers. To tht- President: Ho had had experience in !;(iilor r-hops in rian Francisco, ai-v-) in Port Chalmers and Dun-edin, belf>ro he ji'iiif-d the Government workshops. He had personally visited sojno ot the Australian. Government work«.hop«. He did not find hit shop too big to manage as its. foreman. Tho witi;-, then detailed the clerical work ho had to do. The initialling of tho timebook he .said, v.v.c doni> in the office, Ironi memory. At one time he did the work in the' plioje, but now the staff u-a.s 100 bit; for that. Tlie workshop's foreman's clerk was available- to o£sLst lln. , foremen, but he was under tht> control of the foreman titter. The workshop rollers were not strong enough to roll t!i'» plates *ie had referred to previously. One of the plateis was rolled and tiio operation broke up the rollers. The plate.-* were I'm. thick, and were lolled cold. Tho heaviest plates that rould b<« rolled at Addington wore those Jin. thick, and then two plates could be i-.illed in -li hours. .Sometimes four raa-c-liiiitts. were worked from one accumulator, which was originally obtained for the rivet tor alone, but it had been use*l for moro work s. ; nco. There was no flanging plant at all at Addington, and the work had to In* done by hand, st-p by step. Reheating was generally done at the furnace. Tho witness then put in a statement giving tho cost oi various jobs. To Mr Roberts: Tho two plates that took 4i hours to roll were shell plates for a boiler, and would bo about 15ft by Oft 2in. Tho plates were parallel plates. Tho flanging of the front plate, of an X boiler would" tako five days with the pre&c-iit apparatus. The heat had to be applied locally, for tho furnace wa.s nob big enough for tho purpose. Tho circular plate at the smoke-box ond could bo flanged in 10 hours, but for the X engines the plates were imported flanged. The A engines plates had to be flanged, and that job took about 10 hours, fivo hands working at it. Tho •throat plate at the back of the fireplace took »l days to flango with a staff of five men, and he considered that was a reasonable time, considering the nature of the job. Ho had not officially drawn the manager's attention to tho want of a flanging machine, but tho matter had been spoken about. Tiio shop had been working at a disadvantage with the present machinery, but lie had not complained about it. Tho inch rivets could bo fixed at the rat© of one in li minutes, ljin rivets 13 minutes each, and the lin rivets one minuto each. There was a stoam riveter in the shop where he worked at San Francisco, and the work seemed to bo dono at about the same speed as at Addington as far as he could remember.

To Mr Niven: 110 could put in 500 Jin rivets a day with tiro hydraulic rivetter at the shops if timo was not to be lost with hoisting. To Mj- Hampton: Fitter Sloan, at the workshops, had. got out several improved types of machines, but he did not know , whether Sloan had received any consideration on account of his work. On one occasion a man had spoken disrespectfully to him, but had l afterwards apologised, and tho matter «mded. THE FOREMAN FITTER. John Spencer Clarke, foreman fitter at the workshops, said he- had been in Jill tho large shops in the colony, and tho discipline at Addington was as goot' as at any othor shop he had been in He had not seen any loafing or idling at Addington. The plant at tho new locomotive building worked satisfactorily, as far as it -went, but better .lifting facilities were required. Repair work at holiday periods interfered seriously with tho new work. The staff was a fino working staff, and he had never had to complain on account of the.ir incivility or insubordination. To the President: Addington was tho only shop where much new locomotive work was done. He had visited 1 several of tho workshops in Australia. There iw an average of about four lifts a day in the fitting shop. THE FOREMAN BLACKSMITH. William H. Col*\ foreman blacksmith at Addington, said' he served his apprenticeship at tbe Ashford works of the Smith-Eastern Railway Company, and hnd , also had experience in New Ze-alaiwl before joining the- Government shops. His staff of smiths at Addington was, lw> considered , , the iineet staff in New Zealand. He had-alr-o a good staff in tiie forgo department. The output of the- work now was much more up-totlat-o than it ever was before. Spocial arrangements were made for stamping; the re-heat work in the smith's shop, and the work was done as fast as ho had seen it done anywhere. He considered that on points and crossings ho had reduced tho cost by Id per pound, and on general engine work by about the same amount. The staff were keen on thinking out new devices, and their ideas were- submitted to the manager, and, if approved, adopted. A number of new devices had been adopted in this way. A quantity of work was do.no in his shoo for engines built elsewhere. He had at present SO men and 11 boys under him. His shop required at least three more steam hajnmers, a pair of bar iron .vbears, an hydraulic press, and a more up-to-date bolt machine. If this gear were supplied, he could compote with any works in the colonies.

To the J , resident: He went to Adoingtrm in 1904, at which iimr> a small amount of stamping was done with an old-fashioned There was then no system of stamping under the .steam hammer. There were many good tools in the shop then. The labour for the engine work now cost 2Jd per pound, and for points and crossing* about I.UI. lie could 'lot say what the cost of fuel was for general smiths' w-irk. the »T>st for lalx,ur only was from L'jd tr> -\<i TXT pound. In the smith's thop he u<«'d alunit throo tons of coal a day. In estimating the cost of a job he took the cost of <-<%al together with the co.it of labour. His office work occupied finite three hours every day. He choked the time-books in "hU office, and h.ul to uYnond on hi> memory a

To .Mr Holnrts: A foundation ring fir an _\ would take seven <] iys t<> nuiko. m buffer complete about f:'ir h<n::v<. ;uid a iot of throe coupl.i.- ivul.s a day. His mon worked fri>:n l'i:H-f,i;-.pd blue prints, mostly, and M"!!j-tin:'"s from an easy .-.c.a10.

Tt> Mr l-hmpt'in: One of h:s nwn. >l:iv. had brought out an improved idci for points and work, but }>n<l rtwiv.'f! no extra recompense from tlio Department.

MOULD ING SHOP FOREMAN. John Barbour, foreman of the moulding shop at Addington, said he had Itcfln at Aldington for nearly seven years, and had previously been at Petone, and in private works in New Zealand and Australia. The plant at AddingtoTi was as good as the pLant in any of the other jobbing shops where hi? had worked, and in many cases much better. The output was much boater than in many other places. The work at Addington was of a very intricate character; more so than in other shop.*. Thie workshop practice at Addington was far superior to that in many of tho American shops. Tho heaviest casting made at Addington was 6 tons lOcwt. The percentage of waste castings a-t Aldington was very low, for it was recognised that only fire>l>-class w.ork would bo accepted. The Tabor moulding machine was doing excellent work, and its efficiency had been inorea&ed by quite 3-3 per cent, since tho snap flasks had been added. At present the machine could turn out forty pairs of brake boxes per day with one man. The brass four.dry at Addington was working on efficient Jinos. There v> as one moulding machine in the bra.=s foundry, and ]u> had applied for two more machines. He was satisfied, with his staff, and had no difficulty in maintaining discipline. He had never experienced any incivility from any of his men.

To the President: A pneumatic lift was required for the moulding shop, also an hydraulic ring breaker, but the latter wa.s now being constructed. There was no casting at the works, and a heavy pieco of work had to be sunk into tho ground as far as possible. The metal in tho ladle cost 4s 9d per cwt. In the brass foundry two pounds of metal was produced with ono pound of coke, and in the steel foundry it took 252 pounds of coke to melt 140 pounds of metal. To Mr Xiven : He- had 4o men in his department. COMPARISON" WITH THE CLYDE. Robert D. McEwan, employed a.s a turner ot Addington, said that ho had previously -worked on tho Clyde, and could , say that tho men on tho Clydo worked harder than at Addington. That was a result of the bonus system entirely. The turners at Addington wero quite 011 a pax with the Clydemen, but the quality of the work on tho Clydo was falling rapidly us a result of'the bonus system. The qimlity of work at Addington was better than that turned ovit at tho Clyc'ie.

To Mr Xiven: Tho management at tho Clydo did not require any better work than what was turned out. Tho bonus system followed the big strike, ond was bas»xl upon giving the men a. little more for increased effort. Tho men, however, had not timo to do the work properly in tho time, and consequently the work had- to bo'scamped-. Tho increased wages under tho bonus system amounted to from 5s to 8s weekly, tha standard wage being 30s weekly. To Mr Hampton : Apart from appliances, tiio men ut Aldington wero <is good as tho men at the Clydo be for o the introduction of the bonus system. REPAIR WORK AT ADJHXGTOX.

George. Butt, foreman fitter, said ho was in. charge- of the repair work at Addington. Tho men at Addington worked well, and ho had soon no signs of loafing. As far an discipline was concerned, ho had only had one difficulty, and that was dealt with when it arose. Some lathes wero wanted in the fitting shop. H© considered that apprentices Should ho on trial for tweJvo months, instead of three as at present. There were no milling machines out of use at Addington. To tho Board: It would be better to take out tho old lathes and put in new ones. Tho drilling machines were more up-to-date. A new shop was required for his department, and the repair work should bo separated from the new work. THE FOREMAN PAINTER. Daniel Joseph Brown, in charge of tho painting and tarpaulin department at Addington, said that tho men at Addington worked as hard as thoso at Newmarket, and he was satisfied ho had an efficient staff. THE WORKSHOPS MANAGER'S EVIDENCE. Georgo Edward Richardson, workshops manager at AddLngton, said ho had been 2oi years in tho service, and 'had been 15 months at Addington. He had also been workshops manager of other workshops. Two permits had been issued to Mr Jotikinsoii during tho last 12 months, one on November 12th, during Carnival Week, and one on lGth November, immediately after tho holidays. Mr Jenkinson never spoko to him on either visit. He (witness) had not seen idling as a general thing in any shop at Addington. Particular eases of idling had been dealt with. Mr Henderson was, a most attentive foreman, and tho men in tJhe boiler shop wore a good working lot. The staff at Addington generally was most efficient. If tho cranes in the erecting shops were electrified they would be used more. Tho big planing machine was a most useful machine, and thero were no milling machines oxit of use- at the shops. A new shop should be erected for tho construction of new locomotives. Full advantago was taken of the high speed steel machines, and tho different types wero a-11 efficient. Considerable uso had been made of tho high speed steel twist drills, and a lurgo saving of time had resulted. He had found no difficulty in maintaining discipline at Addington. He did not think a second leading hand in tho boiler shop was required. The plant at tho shops was generally efficient, but more high speed steel lathes were wanted, also improved lifting gear. The work was laid out in the best passible way to get it through in the shortest timo and at least cost. Considerable improvements had been made in the points and crossings shop since ho had been at Addington, and the output had been materially increased and the cost reduced. Ho kept proper manufacturing accounts for the different departments of work, and they all showed a surplus.

The witness then put in fcummarised statements, showing the staffs at Addington at various periods, and tho total annual wages paid since 1900 ai;'i tho individual average, afco returns showing the total value of work at Addington from March 31st. 190-5. new plant procured since 1901, and the lative cost of locomotives made in the colony and importe<l.

Continuing, he said that the last three of the Addinytcm engines wore similar to these built by Pike Brc> Tlio net cost, including Wesrtinghous»> brakes and painting, was £4310. whereas the contractors' price was £3998, to which h.-.d to bo added £210 for brake, and £20 "for painting, making a total of £42l'S. Six of the W.F. engine's had been built at Hillside, but Addington had supplied some oi the i»rts. The. average cost of the forging-s for the cla.>s X engines was 4Jd p< r pound, which included wajjes and material. Several improvpnicius had boon made lately at Addiiigton, wl.icli had resulted in a better outlit in a jjiven time. He hail converted one of th* old lathes into a most efficient, and up-to-date machine, and the othtr lathes were also to be convened. The steam Minply to the big hammer had been made more effective, and the furnace improved. Ho was quite j-atisfied with the- output and method of work in the foundry. The maintenance account had bc-vii debit.■*] with repairs and renewals, etc., and last year thero resultitl a rrofit of ttioO. Tbe X «im>!eiii!(l oyliudei-s cost 13> 2d per cwt each net u> produce, and a jiott turntable girder os S<l iht cwt. St.c! castinirs cost ljjd tw-r jx>un<l. Xiuety of the cjliuders had U.m

cast at Addiii£t-on, and only four bad been wast* , -'.!. He was satisfied with the output and x'rofits made by the brass casting department. For the year 1908 the out-imt \vas 149,1641b, at a not cost of £0224. The profit for the year was £lOIS. tht* castings being sold at tho issue rates The machines at Addington were run as fast as possible A Sheffield expert had shown him how to work up t.'ie fa.st machines, but better results were obtained afterwards than what tho expert had said could l>e obtained.

To the Prtskknt: Fitter Sloan had worked out a new cutting tool from his (witness's) su truest ion, but had received n<l recognition from the Department on that account. Regarding staff arrangements, practically all his recommendations had been approved of. There was a market! difference between tho lay cut of the shops at Hillside a.iivl Addington, the result l>0111;; that the former was a c'iieaper shop to work, and a better ono lor the exercise of supervision. The manufacturing accounts were charged with erst of lrJxmr., material landed in Xew Zealand. Pig iron cost on an average £4 IG.< Id per ton, and ca.st iron i' 3 ]>er ton. The average cost of metal in the ladle, which comprised 75 per cent, pig and 2o per cent. sc.ra.p, was £3 19s Gd p< , r ton. Coke coat £1 os for t;as coke, and £2 5s for Brunner.

To Mr Xiven: It would not pay to erect a new shop for the small number of locomotives building, but if engines were to bo built in sets of five then it would pay.

To Mr Roberts: It would be better if he had the power of taking on and discharging casuals.

To Mr Hampton: He- had had no difficulty in getting rid of a man under the present arrangements, but it took too long. Fitter Turner had brought about .several improvements in tho gas installation in carriages, and ho had been recommended for consideration. At this .stage the Board adjourned until 10 o'clock this morning.