STRIKE OF MEN ON RAILWAY WORKS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 26, 31 January 1912, Page 3

STRIKE OF MEN ON RAILWAY WORKS.

AT TAUARUNUI. J DISSATISFACTION REGARDING EARNINGS. [by tblegeaph— special to thb post.] , AUCKLAND, This Day. It. has been rumoured at Taumarunui during the last few days that there was something in the nature of a general strike among the men engaged on the j railway construction work at Te Koura. It was| said that from 150 to 200 men had thrown down their tools. The' Herald reporter who visited the camp yesterday morning met within a mile of the junction a party of dissatisfied men who .hed. left their job, and were returning to Taumarunui. These men stated their grievances from their point of view. In the first place, there are nothing like 150 men at work at Te Koura; fifty is the greatest number that nas been employed there so far, 'and of these only fourteen or fifteen have left, while the rest, although many of them are discontented, are remaining on. Most of those who have gone havt not lifted their pay, leaving it to the boardinghouse-keeper to collect for them in lieu of board. The men say that some of the gangs- got only 6s n day, others 7s 2d, and others Bs, v.hile the day wages men also received the latter sum The biggest pay that has beenreceived was 9s 8d a day by one gang I only. The men complain also that tnere was no system or method in the work. They did not know whether they weie lon co-operative work or not. No contract was signed by the working parties. Men, they declare, who earned lis 6d a day on the Midland construction cculd make, no moro than -7s 2d a iay at Te Koura-. They also say that tney saw ! in a newspaper a statement to the ef- ! feet that all men engaged on railway construction work would receive 9s a ! day, but they can get no assurance from the overseer that such will be the case. TEere was no general meefing. of the men to organise a strike; the only protests were individual ones, and refusals io take the pay. A number of those who feel aggrieved told the overseer that they would telegraph to Sir Joseph Ward, but he recommended them to wait until he could lay the matter before Air. Bar ker, the engineer in charge, and if !>e could not deal with it he would refer it to Mr. M'Kenzie, District Fngiueer at v Stratford. They were Md thattiom ffie beginning of this month they mig'it expect to be paid 9s a lay, but ihr.i possibly that rate might not come into force till the end of the financial year. They did not see fiti to wait for this, so some fifteen men (about one-third of the number employed) determined tc go out. It is said that nearly 200 men will be engaged on the work before long.