COAL CARTERS.

Evening Star, Issue 16197, 19 August 1916, Page 1

COAL CARTERS.

; TO THE EDITOR. I .vJ r ~ Tn Tot""'issue 0 f August, 10, dealing' ; W)'.:i the Got. Coninlifaee's report- re tho . ■.-.-•.rtars' depu.ts.liou to the City Council oon- ; ■■::;?nmg the caning of coal to the City gas-;-.T.-irKs, you report Cr Henderson as having ■ said that "the conditions indicated by air ; •/. J. Purdie to the council had been greatly ; exaggerated." : I nui not in the hain't of making exagi gem ted statements, and I should 'like to ! make eome of the same statements aeain ! and challenge Cr Henderson, Cr Begg, or j the gas engineer to refute them : (1) Under the conditions of receiving coal ! at, the City gasworks prior to ihe lock-wit i referred to later, when eat-ting large co-a!, jt> I vras quite a common occurrence to find at jSftnst 12 drays waiting to unload. Some, of j these, arriving; at the works at 2.30 p.m., i could not get. unloaded by .5,p.m., and a day's earnings for these" vans was limited to four loads, forcing the- men to overload in order to make a living wage. 2. In order to facilitate delivery these carters bad often to break the lumps of coal in their drays to a size suitable for tho lioppey. This is work which should not bo done tw carters.

5. If any carter could not', commence cartuijr when the ship commenced unloading—perhaps because he was finishing sonio other work which he had undertaken to do, and which helped him to earn his living—no explanation to the gas engineer could overcome this position, and the penalty -was that the man was not allowed' to cart: any coal from that shipment', nor from the Wo -succeeding shipments. This treatment' was inoouitable, especially as the gasworks carting was only intermittent work, and. the men who clid it were forced to seek other work between the shipments. 4. The majority of the carters to the gasworks wore quite ignorant of any strikej as reported by the Gas Committee, and without heuig consulted were barred from carting, which practically meant a, rumored strike turned into a lock-out by the Gas Committee, which lock-out still 'continues.

5. The conditions of receiving since this lock-out have been improved, exactly as soughi. for by the deputation who waited upon the Ciiy Council, thus vdlovviug the present contractor the very improvements which the locked-out carters asked for.

In conclusion, may T say that, in submitting this letter to the locked-out carters, they are prepared to guarantee the accuracy of these stateiuents by offering to pay £o to the patriotic fund is -Cr Henderson or Or pop* or the gas engineer can refute tbem batore an independent and unbiased inquiry. —I am, etc., ■T. Jackson- Pt-nniE (On. behalf of the locked-out carters). August 17.