DEEP STREAM CONTRACTS.

Evening Star, Issue 21935, 23 January 1935, Page 9

DEEP STREAM CONTRACTS.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —There seems to be a conflict of Opinions between certain members of the City Council in regard to fjjio workjag conditions prevailing of late pmongst the men engaged carrying out jfche various contracts in the water department. It no doubt would be very interesting if the full report could bo tabled, so that we might be sure that ,the evidence floating around is quite .true. Personally 1 have paid three yisits to the men engaged upon this .work. On my first visit I found that aome of the men had been working on the job for weeks without receiving any pay at all. 1 also found that the men were much dissatisfied. To prove this I will briefly state the conversation I heard between the men which took place whilst I sat in their tent on the Sunday night. The question was asked of one of the men who had been down to Dunedin, “ How did you get on jibout your pay?” Ho replied to the effect that they were at the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday about 10.15 a.m., and eventually received their pay at 1.15 p.m. I then ventured to ask the men if they had to go down to Dunedin for their pay. The reply was that he had been up there three weeks. The wife and children neither had food !ndr money; he therefore was compelled to do something. On the Monday morning before Christmas holidays a group of men were here in Dunedin for days trying to get wages that were due to them. Whether they all succeeded or not I am not sure. I am informed that one of the men who still has wages amounting to the sum of over £l2 had not been paid on Wednesday last, January 16. This state of affairs is not a credit to our city councillors, when men are compelled to hunt around the city for their wages after they have earned them. It is a well-known fact that these men have been working all hours, including Saturday afternoon; also they .worked seven Sundays at ordinary rates of pay. What about the desecration of the Sabbath ?, Does this re-

ceivo the endorsement of the Christian churches? When I asked one of the leaders of a co-operative gang or party how they expected to come out with their contract he informed me that it was a little better than relief work. Our city councillors know full well what the result would have been had they not come to the assistance of some of tho contractors. They also know that when one contracting party threw in the sponge the men who had been employed by the contractors could not get their wages, and while some of the members of the City Council expressed their sympathy to me on that account they held that they as members of the City Council wore in no way responsible. As a result of this predicament 1 paid another visit to tho men at Deep Stream, warning the men that they must be sure and get their wages. I found that the men had an idea that wages came first in a claim against the contractor. 1 assured the men that this was not tho law in this dominion. For seven years I have had the opportunity of watching the trend of events in tho city water department, and while the past may not have been altogether free from some glaring defects, the present Deep Stream undertaking beats them all. The indications of tho present day have a tendency to show that the Hitler-Mussolini germ has started to affect tho supervising staff of the water department, and the Water Committee might do something far worse than to make a full inquiry into the present conditions, whether they are slipping back into tho middle ages or keeping pace with modern conditions. —1 am, etc., R. Harrison. January 19.

[ln connection with tho Deep Creek water supply, some twelve contracts have been entered into. In accordance with tho specification the City Corporation makes progress payments to the contractor on work completed each fortnight (and in some instances each week). These payments are in accordance with tho provisions of the Wages Protection and Contractors’ Liens Act. The employment of labour and the payment of wages in each case are matters for tho contractor.—Ed. E.S.]