WORKSHOPS PLANT

Evening Star, Issue 20610, 9 October 1930, Page 15

WORKSHOPS PLANT

COMMISSION'S FINDING CHALLENGED [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, October 8. Holding that some of ihe findings of the Royal Commission which investigated the working of the railways were an unjust reflection on the skilled workmen employed in the workshops, the New Zealand Railway Tradesmen’s Association has issued a statement. The association is at present holding its biennial conference in Wellington. “ The conference views with extreme surprise,” says the statement, “ the report of the Royal Commission relating to tho benefit being obtained from tho new workshops in which it is stated ‘ that in some instances there is an indisposition to make the most effective use of the facilities now available, with the result that the full benefit of efficient service is not being obtained.’ This is a grave reflection on the skilled workmen employed in the workshops, and it is the intention of the conference to request the Minister of Railways to set up a board of inquiry to investigate the charges implied. “When giving evidence before the commission in July last wo submitted substantial evidence to the effect that the reorganisation _ of the workshops had been responsible in several instances for a greatly increased cost of production as compared with the cost under the old system and for which no responsibility can be attached to the staff. For instance, the plant used for the manufacture of wagon wheels was shifted at considerable cost under tho reorganisation from Hillside to the Hutt shops. The raw material used in the manufacture of these wheels is obtained from Burnside, which is in close proximity to the Hillside workshops. Now that these wheels are made at the Hutt, the South Island requirements have to be transported back to the south, thereby necessitating double sea transport. Tho result is that the,so wheels are costing substantially more than formerly.

“The commission’s attention wasalso drawn to the installation of some machinery at considerable cost which has never been used, and some of it is never likely to bo used. The skilled men welcome the introduction of modern machinery and modern methods of accomplishing their work,” the statement concludes, ■“ and the suggestions contained in the commission’s report are not justified and not fair to the staff, who have always been loyal and a credit to the department in which they are employed.” The delegates to the conference are as follow: —Messrs E. J. Mulligan (president, Christchurch), W. J. Leitch (vice-president, Auckland), W. Paul (Dunedin), W. Hamilton (Addington), T. E. Oliver (Jlutt), R. G. Thompson (Wanganui), W. J. Thomas (Invercargill), 11. A. P. Casey (Westport), J. Maxwell (Wellington), W. R. Sclwyu (Invercargill), and L. F. Thompson (Wellington).