A PLEA FOR LIGHTHOUSEKEEPERS

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 59, 7 September 1917, Page 9

A PLEA FOR LIGHTHOUSEKEEPERS

TO THH EDITOR.

Sir, —As references have been made in Parliament regarding the conditions of pay of lighthouse-keepers in the Dominion, I wish, through the medium of your paper, to say something on the subject. A/part from the isolation and inconveniences light-Keepers have to live under, the- cost of living on island stations, where keepers live on tinned food, is high, and when an. increase, , of a keeper's family is expected, the -wife has to undertake a journey to the nearest town, and board any time from two to seven months, before she can again return to the island. Travelling expenses, boarding, etc., amount'to a fairly round , sum. When a keeper goes foi leave from some stations, most of his allotted time is spent getting away. and, back,' and travelling expenses are heavy. If the education of a keeper's children is properly attended to, keepers sometimes have to send them to town; in most cases they have to do so to complete their children's education. Men in other branches of the service do not have these expenses, amTthey are better paid. Another matter I will refer to is house rent. Keepers pay as much for a j two-roomed cottage as a six-roomed house. I think itho houses at lighthouse stations should be looked on ac part of the station, and rent should not be deducted from a keeper's .wages. I was in the light service over five years, and I know it is an underpaid job, and- the keepers in it are of the same opinion. I was stationed at Puvsegur Point Lighthouse three years, and during that time we had two children born. On each occasion my wife was away from the station seven months. My average wages for that period.was £120 per annum, minus 5 per cent, superannuation, and, but for the help of friends, we could not have paid our way. am,, etc., ( JOHN PQTTINGER. Westporfc, 4th September.