WATERSIDERS' WAGES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22073, 22 April 1937, Page 10

WATERSIDERS' WAGES

COMPARISON WITH FARM RETURNS DISPROPORTION SEEN BY MR HARGEST V [THE PRESS Special Setvlce.l / AUCKLAND, April 21. Comparing dairy farmers' hourly earnings with the high wages paid to waterside workers, Mr J. Hargest, M.P. for Awarua, in an address at Te Awamutu, blamed the Labour Party for the slackness which, he said, existed at ports in the Dominion. Before the last election, said Mr Hargest the Labour Party had promised to guarantee the dairy farmer a price that would ensure him a standard of living equal to that enjoyed by the people of New Zealand generally. Had that promise been redeemed? Certainly not. . The Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin) had stated that the price would be such that competent labour could be employed, and women and children kept out of the cow sheds. That promise had not been kept either. Those present knew the returns they were receiving—not more than od or 8d an hour, with no allowance for long hours or Sundays. Mr Hargest said he would compare this with the reward paid to men handling butter on t-o wharves at Wellington and Auckland, handling clean boxes and under shelter. He had recently seen a list of wages for the'loading of a ship at Wellington. No one employed on a particular day had received less than 33s 4d. Some had received more than 555, but in one case quoted as an average, a watersider had been paid 50s 2d. He had worked for seven hours at 3s 4d an hour, three hours at 4s 6d, and for two meal hours he had been paid 6s 8d an hour. . , Could any farmer pay such rates or compete with them in the market for employees? he asked. It might be argued that the work was hard; but that was not so. In ships' refrigerated space, only 30 minutes were worked in each hour by each man, and the rate of work done would be judged by the fact that under observation recently in Auckland a party of 30 men loaded 100 quarters of beef in three hours, at a cost of 3s a quarter. The total freezing charges, namely, killing, treating, and freezing, were 2s a quarter, but it took 3s merely to load the meat on to a ship. "Cnn any industry in New Zealand stand that?" asked Mr Hargest. "It is no wonder that the chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board felt compelled to make a strong protest and a threat to appoint a staff to load produce; and it is common knowledge that the heads of shipping companies are objecting strongly to slackness on the wharves." DISSATISFACTION AMONG WATERSIDERS DIFFICULTY ON DUNEDIN | WHARVES [THE PRESS Special Service.] DUNEDIN, April 21. The adverse criticism of the waterside workers of New Zealand which has appeared in newspapers in the last fiew days caused a certain amount of dissatisfaction among those engaged on the Dunedin wharves this morning, and for a time there was some difficulty in obtaining labour for ships in the port. The secretary of the union, when interviewed, would make no statement on behalf of the members, apart from saying that there had been considerable difficulty in persuading the men to go to work. The union had met representatives of the shipowners, and the matter had been discussed at some length. '