400 Have Left Deep Cove Jobs

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 12

400 Have Left Deep Cove Jobs

em Slightl ? more ffian 400 men had left the 19} million Manapouri power tailrace project job at Deep Cove since it began about 6s months ago, said the project manager of Bechtel Corporation (Mr N. Long) in a telephone interview yesterday evening. The corporation is the consultant to the New Zealand Government for the project.

Mr Long said that "very < few” workers had been discharged by the contractors, the Utah-Williamson-Burnett joint venture. “Most of them have quit,” said Mr Long. "They come in for a look and then go out,” The pay roll for the joint venture at present was about 370, he said. Mr Long said the turnover cf men at Deep Cove was I now “very definitely dropping.” “You get a lot of people ■wanting to come in and see •what its like,” he said. “The labour force is becoming much more stabilised as time goes on.” Mr Long was commenting on a report from the national secretary of the Labourers' Federation (Mr P. M. Butler) that since the Manapouri tailrace project began at Deep Cove, from 1200 to 1500 ■workers had left the job. Mr Butler said in a telephone interview yesterday that he had received this information from Mr B Carter. ■ of Wellington, who had driven a bulldozer at Deep Cove. Mr Carter, who was also interviewed by telephone, said he had spent four months at Deep Cove as the driver of a 40-ton 286 h.p. bulldozer. “At Least 1209” “1 have worked it out that at least 1200 have left the job. It could be more. On December 5, about 35 men left on the one day,” he said. Mr Carter said that when he was at Deep Cove, he was the highest-paid worker (as different to company executive) on the job, and was being paid 8s 3d an hour. He said that for an average fortnight of 179 J hours ■worked, he earned £69 Is 8d gross. When tax of £l3 15s 4d had been deducted this left him with £55 6s 4d. The fortnight, said Mr Carter, was broken up into 80 hours’ ordir wy time, 43J hours at time and a half and 33 hours at double time. ‘ That is what I got working leven days a week." he ■ sain. On one occasion at Deep

Cove, said Mr Carter, his machine was bogged for 10 days. It took 14 to 15 bushmen cutting timber for a “corduroy catwalk” (carpet of tree trunks placed to front of the bulldozer) to get the bulldozer out.

“I worked in the rain every day, wearing an oilskin coat,” he said. “The daily average rainfall was about 2Jto. My bulldozer was bogged on six separate occasions for a full day. because of bog. “Mine was a brand new bulldozer off the freighter, Kaiwaroa, when I got her. She became pretty badly smashed up. “Chimneys were knocked off the bulldozer by boulders falling down on them. It was fairly extensively damaged fc> the amount of hours done ” Mr Carter said there were then two other bulldozers at Deep Cove. He described the Deep Cove bog, bush and undergrowth as so dense that on one occasion it ha taken him 16 hours to walk 140 yards.