MARAETAI UNREST

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22416, 25 August 1947, Page 6

MARAETAI UNREST

WORKING CONDITIONS TUNNELLERS’ COMPLAINT “EQUIPMENT INADEQUATE" (P.A.) ROTORUA, Aug. 23. A considerable amount of unrest is apparent among a section of the workers at the Maractai hydro-electric development scheme, and although the diversion tunnel which must be completed before any dam construction work can commence is slowly being driven forward, the underground men on the job consider that the equipment supplied is unsuitable for the terrain. The working conditions in the tunnel area are appalling, they claim, and there is such a shortage of tools and equipment that many working hours are being lost. Against the advice of practical men who' had worked underground all their lives and knew the work inside out, the engineers in charge had insisted on driving the tunnel with a machine unsuitable for the country, said Mr. L. Clapham, secretary of the Mangakino branch of the New Zealand Workers’ Union. The pumps were carrying off 4000 gallons of seepage a minute, but were not keeping the tunnel dry. At the face the men had to wade through 3ft. and 4ft. of water.

Mr. Clapham said a report had recently appeared in the press that work on the diversion tunnel had been held up through a lack of steel formes. This statement was not correct, ns the formes had been lying outside the job for many weeks and nothing had been done to erect them.

There was a lamentable lack of small tools on the job, and many working hours were lost-

Apart from conditions on the job itself, amenities provided in the camp were poor and inadequate, added Mr. Clapham. The Works Department engineer in charge of the scheme, Mr. A. F. Clark, said he realised that there was some dissatisfaction on the part of a certain section of the workers. He admitted that the camp amenities were not the best, but stressed that the department had been forced to concentrate on housing construction.