RELIEF WORK AT BEAUMONT

Evening Star, Issue 18070, 11 September 1922, Page 6

RELIEF WORK AT BEAUMONT

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Having the misfortune to be out of work, I applied at the Department of Labor some weeks ago-, and after formalities, conducted with much incivility, I was informed that a. job awaited 1 me at Beaumont railway extension on relief work at 12s per day, 1 being a married man. 1 asked for a, few clays in which to make arrangements about my home, and l was told to return when ready, and final instructions would bo given me. I duly returned, and was given an order for a railway pass and a- printed memorandum the engineer in charge at Beaumont. The following morning, having handed l my wife my last coin, 1 set out on what I considered to be a. prolonged absence from home, and arrived at Beaumont, where, on reporting, 1 was informed that my “gear”—i.e., my belongings—would be taken up the “road” the next day. _ In the meantime 1 could bach for the night in an adjoining hut, and the canteen officer would supply me with any required stores. At the canteen 1 was tolcL I should require all the utensils necessary in camp life, such as pots, pans, knife, fork, spoon, etc,, in addition to foodstuffs, and, being penniless, was informed that the amount of my bill would be deducted- from my earnings, which were payable monthly. My first thought was of the money I might bo able to send home if 1 was to receive credit to the limit of my earning capacity, and my feelings can bo imagined when 1 learned that 1 would also _bc debited with tho cost of a brand-new pick and shovel. Surely this is commencing work with a millstone round _ your neck rather than with a sense of relief.

My foodstuffs were to be tent on my reporting to the overseer twelve miles up the “road,” and 1 set out the following morning to tramp to my allotted camp. VViihorit food the previous day and no breakfast, save a snack given me by adjoining laborers, I set out and covered the twelve mile—which can best be described as similar to the Ypres-Menin road in the days of J. 914-18, except for the shell firein "five hours. My lent was not yet erected, but a kindly navvy saw me and gave me some food and' drink, and asked me to lie down on bis bed for a time. After a short rest the overseer, cm horseback, was pointed out to me some distance away, and when I reached him 1 was told’that, as it was Friday, I could nob get a start till the Monday, and then only on day work, till a second overseer came up to indicate a “ patch” to be worked on the contract system. Suffice it to say hero that earnings on such contract work arc anything but regular, and 1 was told they may sometimes average 4s per day. My tent was erected lute that afternoon, and,'although my “gear ” arrived, no foodstuffs accompanied it. J lay down that night on some cement bags, and hoped that an aeroplane might drop from the heavens and transport me to the mayor and. councillors of Dunedin that I might speak. The following morning that kindly navvy gave me £1 in exchange for my overcoat. Again, with some 260 men working and blasting continually in operation, it is astonishmg that no provision whatever is made in case of accident. The nearest point from which even a surgical bandage could be obtained is from twelve to twenty Julies distant, according to position on the line, and this over the roughest country. The worst equipped army in Europe is better off in this respect. 1 have stated my experience ■ at some length—fads which I have witnesses to prove—as if there is .to be a remedy my opinion is that recourse to the public Press is the surest way. The sorest point of all

is the incivility to tho down and out by those in authority, right from the Department of Labor in Dunedin to the camp at the head of tho railway extension at Beaumont. There are kinder hearts beating in tho breasts of the three ship’s firemen out of a job who accompanied me—rough men, with some knowledge of tho struggle for existence.— l am, etc., Remedy. September 11. [The local office of the Labor Department denies that incivility has been shown by it to nny applicants for work.—Ed. E.S.] _____