WORK ON THE OTAGO CENTRAL.

Evening Star, Issue 7623, 28 May 1888, Page 3

WORK ON THE OTAGO CENTRAL.

TO THK EDITOH. , 0 Sir,—You were pleased in an editorial I noto in Saturday's Stvk to refer to what you term a series of deliberate statements made by me regarding the treatment of men working on the Otago Central Railway. You do ao with the object of conveying the impression, by referring to a fjium contradiction in your morning contemporary, and by hinting at " imaginary grievances," that these statements arc incorrect. I wish they were. But tho fact that you have impugned " their accuracy, acknowledging at the same time the seriousness of the question, warrants me to ask sufficient space to briefly formulate the case of the unemployed. If my allegations can be disproved, I shall be only too glad to cry pe.ccaiv. But let us have argument or evidence, not mere assertion or innuendo or sneer. I may as well dispose at the outset, in a single sentence, of the contradiction to which i you have given such unnecessary prominence, r The writer does not explicitly deny Mr a Hutchison's allegations, as you, of course, a inadvertently assert. He deals with only e one of them—all the others are entirely un- t noticed—the one, namely, in which I spoke of the men's time being occasionally cur- t tailed hy tho absence of a "boss" or i ' l bosses " (their name is legion), when work s was stopped. The writer says he has l "never seen or heard of any man losing r time unless through bad weather." He may < be an exception; but I can produce you c men by the half-dozen, who have not s only seen and heard but suffered by ] the infliction referred to. And what is tho worth of the witness's testimony? He does not give hia name, and anonymous statements touching matters of fact are of small account. I have, however, dealt with his letter in the proper place, and when we know who he is we shall be better > able to decide regarding his evidence. J And now as to the case in its bearing on j the wants of the unemployed. I certainly ' urged upon the Mayor the benefit—even the necessity—of providing work for married • men in or about the town, instead of having j them sent into the country ; and I did so for } reasons, the cogency of which, I submit, , cannot be shaken by any special pleading : (]) It is most desirable, in a social and moral I point of view, that families should not be | deprived of the guardianship of their head. , Thispointisself-evident. Necessity, of course, . has no law ; but here the necessity does not exist. (2) Such family separation is essen- . t'ially wasteful. The money that might perchance enable a united family to rub along will not bear a divided expenditure. This point also must be obvious to thoso who have civen any consideration to the subject; but I hardly think it is sufficiently appreciated by manv. Will you therefore permit me to illustrate its operation by one or two simple facts, which are borne out by as many equally simple figures ? .... , The average weekly working time ot a piek-and-shovel laborer in Otago, all the year round, is about three and a-half daysmore in summer, less in winter. Thus the wages earned by the "unemployed on the Otago Central are 10s a-week ! Let there be no mistake on this point; and then note what follows: Out of these 10s the man requires one-half for his weekly maintenance. He must eat if he would I work, and notwithstanding the utmost care he cannot manage with a less sum ; and so the account stands thus : Wastes •• ICs Man's raainteuanca .. .. 83 Rent of house far family .. fu 13* For frailly •• •• •■ Si Three shillings a-week for tlu support of a wife and two, three, or four children I The statement is enough, and if the figures are wrong they admit of the easiest correc tion. I had to refer to a further subtraction i from the above scanty sum. Without any [1 previous intimation to the men they found I their 1 waged- mulcted 6f a morithly sum of 2s 8 apiece, said to bo for a doctor, about whose 0 appointment they had never been consulted, ° and whom; in po\at of, fact, they had' never 8 seen to their knowledge. Passing atrange I 7 Miss Edgeworth tells us of an Irish lady 5 who was ever taxing the abilities of her carf penter for the production of effects above the !o reach of mortal hammer and saw, and when ir the mechanic begged her opinion as to the r ; J mode of realising ner conceptions the answer l; always was: "Somehow by means of a

screw." The Government take kindly 1 the screw in its application to the unen p'oyed. There is much more to be said, but abstain. I am anxious, if possible, t enlist the sympathy of the kindlj disposed and sober-minded classes of th 1 community on behalf of a large number c men, women, and children suffering mor distress at the present moment than is at al necessary. It seems to me altogether inex plicable how, with useful work easily pro curable in town, poor men should be sent ti the desert of Mount Allen in this wintri weather to do work for which there is ni immediate necessity, and the wages fo which must be frittered away by a dmdec expenditure, leaving both the bread-winnei and those dependent upon him really unpro vided for.—l am, etc., William Hutchison. Dunedin, May 28.