WATERSIDE MISHAPS

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 48, 20 August 1917, Page 8

WATERSIDE MISHAPS

MORE SUPERVISION URGED

A CONFERENCE SUGGESTED

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER OF

MARINE.

Tlio prevention of accidents on tho waterfront, was the subject of a deputation ' from ' the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Federation which waited on the Hon. G. W. Russell (Minister of Marine) to-day. " The deputation ' consisted "of Messrs. L. Glover' (president of the Federation), J. Robertas (secretary), J. G. Bruce (secretary of the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union), and Laurehsori. Mr. Glover explained that the deputation represented .between. 4000 and 5000 men. At the annual conference of the Federation the question of the protection oi' members while at work was discussed. The whole matter hai? been gone into very fully, and some very valuable evidence' collected. The deputation proposed that there should be a conference between representatives of . Government, the shipping companies, waterside workers, and the Harbour Board,, with a , view ..to*, devising satisfactory arrangements for the avoidance of accidents in future. A BIG PERCENTAGE. • A ■ partial -list of the accidents that had occurred during 1916 and 1917 was read by Mr. Roberts. It showed that in 1916 in Wellington, 282 accidents had happened, and 246 in 1917. Some of the accidents, it was admitted, were minor ones, but all of those included in the list were sufficient to put the victims off work for fourteen days' or over. Mr. Roberts also referred to the handling ot dangerous cargo, sulphuric acid, benzine, and inflammable oils, and to the Royal Commission which sat in Auckland in connection with the sulphuric acid incident there. He had appeared before that Commission; had given a lot of evidence, and made certain recommendations. It was desirable that a copy of the Commission s report should be, available, so as to see what had been -recommended, because it-'did-not: seem that anything, had been done to 'improva-tne conditions .in force. The commission's enquiries had been very exhaustive. A deputation from the Federation had waited on the late J±on. Dr. N'Nab, as Minister of Marine, in connection with the matter, and he had promised to appoint inspectors at Auckland' 'and Wellington. This "had been done, and the., .deputation, fully appre-■ciated~the-work~-the. Government had carried out in this direction. There was some doubt, however, about the powers ■of the:inspectors, and the deputation was of opinion that'"if-they were extended much good- would _reg{iHr, :The deputation "also • suggested that' the■:waterside workers should-be allowed to nominate a man."to repYesehrWm: in carrying out .tlie-work-afrinspectipn;;: . .'.: Reference'was made by Mr. Bruce to the sympathetic hearing that the late Hon Dr. M'Nab had given to the watersiders. He said he believed that hall the-Minister- lived most of .the things promised'by :Kim would' have been carried into ■effect; A total of 246 accidents among the 1500 members of tho union was a very high percentage. Many of the accidents-were unavoidable. Duo more supervision was -wanted. Mr. Bruce pointed out that the inspectors had no '.power to deal with the goods handled ■the Harbour' Board's sheds or on the hulks. Referring to the handling of inflammable cargoes, he said that he jvas pleased to see electric light had been established oil the „. wharves, and he hoped that it would remain there. i Mr. Laurenson urged that there should be one controlling authority in regard to the matters mentioned, and that shouldbe'the'Governmont;. -The Minister, replying, expressed the | pleasure' it' had given him to hear that the officers appointed were doing satisfactory work. The Marine Department only had control of the ships, and the Harbour Boa.rd had to accept control immediately tihe cargo came ashore. He wished-that it..was .possible to extend the powers of the inspectors'to the whole of the work on the vessels in port and the wharves. .He.had given,.consideration to the suggested conference, but he had no knowledge cf what the late Hon, Dr. M'Nab had promised. Before calling any such conference he would want a definite scheme to submit to it. When the scheme was drafted he would con-, sider if legislation "was desirable, and if so, would try and get it through this session. -. Regarding- the. handling of dangerous, and inflammable goods, said the Minister, he would be quite frank with the deputation, and tell its- members .that the information received hy him was that •much of the trouble arose because of the ■manner in which the goods .were handled by the men themselves. He was thinking of bringing down a regulation making it a penal offence for any' man to showwant of care in handling cargoes of such a nature. He -would look to the Federation, for co-operation and assistance in dealing with the difficulty. If the unions would arrange to give him regular lists of the accidents that occurred, he would have them checked by the Department with a view to finding where the responsibility was. ■.