Grey River Argus. and Blackball News.

Grey River Argus, 14 October 1912, Page 4

Grey River Argus. and Blackball News.

Delivered every moriiing in Gieymoutb. Kuinara, Hokitika, Dobsou, *W illseud, Taylor ville, Br.unuertoii; Stillwater. Ngahere, blackball, Nelsou Creek, Aliiur.i, Iknmatua, J.Vamta, Reeftnn, Cronoduu, Bunnuga, Duuolhe.tlobileii, Baxin s, Kokin, Patara., Kaixaawi, Aiatika, 1 Kotuku, oana, Rum, Te Kiugi. Botouiauu, Poerua, hbonuio, Jj-rksons mid Otira

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14th, 1912 Thl mtioduction ofi Mi. Vigor Biown's Co-opeiative Workcis and Public _Woiks Bill led to an animated clebate on Thursday 111 the Hoube ot Representatives. It would have been a good 'thing if the co-operative system had been more thoroughly discussed 1 good many 3 ears ago , for during the whole couise of the system, since 't v.a* first cntioduced by Mr. Seddon, I there has been a great deal of grunVßl--1 ng and dissatisfaction. The '<*oI op" woikeis ha\e generally been dU-j-ontented because they could not earn . lip] wiges ; yet for all that theic arc always thousands of men who seem to I have settled down to accept the position of depending entirely upon 10---ope>rati\e works. This w r as not the mtention when the system was introduced As well as recollection serves [ iis, the idea was to provide a means of i<*lievmg the labour imarkets of, tho imnciole centrps of labour conges- ' i!ion in dull tunes without entailing any expense on the Government. Th/> principle 's a<= sound as the nhiect ■• w^s laudable; but the working out of

th? principle has seldom been entdrely satisfactory. There is no doubt that the system relieved the principal cities- from any very unpleasant congestion iot the labour market; but it has seldom been anything like as economical as would be the case had the work been let by contract. It is quite probable that in a -good many instances the engineering .staffs have been quite as responsible for the unexpected cost of the work, and other causes of discontent as ; the mere navvies themfcelvps'. Many instances of incompetence of supervision might be quoted. It not necessary to look for an illustration beyond the Blackball-Ngaliere section of railway/ which probably cost three times. as much as it ought to have done and occupied about three times as long as it should have done. As there were many instances •' of ■ a similar nature in the progress of the "co-op" system, it is not at all surprising that the Minister of Pubi'ic Works is casting about to improve the present system so that the country may get the worth of its money in work. The Hon. Mr. Eraser disclaims the idea that he intends to abolish the system, altogether; all he wants to do is to see that old bad methods should be abandoned, and more care taken to secure more thorough attention and supervision on the part of the engineering staff. ' There is good reason to believe that they are as much in! need ot being looked after more carefully as tKe navvies. Mr. Fraser was perfectly right in insisting that the men should have the right of selecting their ow-n mates. It is the merr^t moouhmc to contend, as the member for Waifakii does, that the strong men. would not ballot the weaker men out of the gang. That is the very, thing they will do. Mr. Seddon, in his day made the same mistake, when he .predicted that the strong young New Zealander would' always be found chivalrous enough to make up the deficiency ni the aged New Zealander. All right in theory, in practice the idea failed miserably. Mr. Fraser hit upon the best solution ■ of the difficulties of thft cooperative system When he said that the work should be let out- in small contracts. The system ..of -day labour by which all are paid alike has not worked satisfactorily, except in those necessarily rare io stances in whi.rh the. gangs consist of at least average good workcta. Where the competent and the incompetent are placed on an equality, the most effective members of the gang soon learn to do no more work than the least .. effective. ; Some of our local bodies were not long in discovering the only piopcr solution of ' this difficulty was by cutting up their work into small contracts. The men soon fell into the way of sorting themselves.* The youthful and the strong went together, as also did the old and the less experienced, and" all were mutually satisfied at being paid what they earned. The Socialistic idea by which ths best men are paid no more than the. least effective .has.neverworked well, and never will, because it is. opposed to reason as well'as against the tendency, of ordinary human nature. It would be a mistake to altogether abolish the co-operative system in favour of .the contract system. Under the latter only the most able and best class uf men would find employment, while under the former the weaker class, the aged and. the unskilled would have a chance at least" of earning a living^ of some sort that there was no "possibility of doing under any system of letting public works in large' contracts. Mr. R. McKenzie's statement that duning. the three years he wUs-iri. office he had received very, few complaints in connection with the coopcratnc system is a direct contiadicUon to the general impression regarding co-operative works and woikcrs But probably he settled any,.rnmplaints he received oh the same basis as k disposed if the miners' uoubles at Taupui and Runanga. Tt is easy though to settle tioubles when malcontents set more than thty ask for The discussion' on Mr. Vigor Brown's Rill will have a good effect if it leads to rcfonh in the present method of carrying out the co-operative sj stem in the ejections in '"which the hard lessons of experience have shown that a radical charge is necessary in letting out the- work. With, good men there may be found complete satisfaction' in day work. But if work is to be found for men indiscuminatelv, an entirely different method must be adopted, so that men might be paid accordlug 10 their earnings.

Thi: Competitions ivlwch have bo engrossed the attention of the Greymouth public during the whole of the past week have been a magnificent success. A* night after night passed the attendances mcicased and on Friday night, though additional seating accommodation was provided numbers weic unable to obtam icats. The sight was good to look upon and that such a grand aurience could be got together in a comparatively small community such as ouis is, to a festival of such educational value is an indication that Gre> - "mouth.. has a very considerable number of people who know a good thing when they t see it, and without any doubt the Competitions are the finest institution of which Gievmouth knows. To the judge, Mr C. N. Baeyertz, who has acted for the past three festivals, the grand success and growth of the 19 12 Competitions is^ most gratifying and , in passing it may be saiid without the slightest suspicion of flattery, that the* whole community owes a deep debt of g latitude to a gentleman whose enthusiasjn and ability for his chosen work ar-e unequalled in Australasia. He has now judged no fewer than twentyfoui Competitions Festivals including the famous Ballaiat Competitions twice, and he feels that business calls will prevent h's acting as our judge nc\t year. We are sorry that such 'is the case, for though no man born can ever possibly satisfy all disappointed competitors the \vEole good sense oi the coinmunitv whether amongst competitors or those who are really interested ip the welfare of the. Couipeti-

tions Society recognize that Greymouth has been lucky dn its', competition judge. No unbiassed person can pp'ssibly witne&s the unbounded ' enthusiasm of the man as a judge ; his good temper and consideration for nervous competitors; his absolute indifferenci to what the public may . think of hiis decisions and the keenness with which even the last of one hundred and thirty competitors for one ""day's judging is listened to, (and all these things have been noticed at the Competitions just closed) without at once coming to the conclusion that in Mr. Baeyertz we have had an exceptional judge. May he. still go on for many years, impressing the importance of the study of elocution, speaking and singing as he has always done in the past and thus elevate the minds of the people bothyoung and old to that eminence from which it is possible to see some of the better things of the life intellectual; to which the sordid every day struggle for bread and butter is but too apt to dull our minds and biind our sight. Two new judges will be required next year and the Society intend to get good ones and this means money: To set up a fund to this end the proceeds of this evening's deriionstration will -'be devoted and it is to be sincerely hoped that the public of Greyiriouth, who have already responded splendidly will, "by theit attendance in large numbers at the Town Hall this evening enable the Society to set by a substantial amount towards such an all important object — the obtaining .of the best judges available for the 1913 Competitions. ' '. •

'■'" In the face of the wonderful ho!d that the Trades Hall party has obtained in Australia, the Independent Workers' Federation is gainingground rapidly. It is noticeable by the last number of the official "organ of the Independent Workers that the new association gained a decxiedly important victory against, the Ttades Hall cambination. The ' platform of the new organisation of w r orkei's is based upon the Open Shop, a Square Deal, opposition to preference . to Unionists.. The new- association has its branches in all the chief cities of the Australian States. Of the many victories that have already been gained for the Open Shop and Square Deal principle was a notable one in" South Australia quite recently. The object of the case was for the purpose of fixing the wages of builders 7 , labourers. The case was heard before Mr. Acting-Justice Buchanan and representatives respectively of the Trades Hall ' and the Independent Workers' Union. The contention of Mr. Wells (who represented the Independent Workers) was that workers' should be graded according to their ability; and, rathed than adopt the Trades Hall and socialistic method of bringing all men to one dead level, give the more able man an opportunity of earning more than the inferior Workman. The Un,ion representative strongly opposed this -contention, aud advocated that the payshould be 11s a day all round for builders' labourers. Mr. Wells, on behalf of the association, asked for three grades : — gs, 10s, and the better class of workmen, us. The judge, in "his. "award," after conferring /with the two assessors, upheld in every . particular the proposition of the Independent Workers, and gave the three grades as asked for. The policy of the new Unionism is to pay men according to their ability, instead of a good man being brought down to the level of the incompetent worker. Justice Buchanan, before announcing the determination ■of the Court, said : "I wish to congratulate the parties upon the able way in which the case had been prepared by each side. .A large number of witnesses /were examined; no time was lost, and the evidence called was much to the point." The victory is all the more significant from the fact that the Judge of theFederal Arbitration went out of his way on several occasions to belittle the Independent Workers' movement. Justice Buchanan took a broader and common-sense view by accepting the contention of the Independent Workers as against that of the Trader Hall faction. The Editor of "The Square DeaV' adds: "And. we haven't the slightest hesitation in affairming that if the Builders' Labourers of Adelaide were freed of the agitator and the walking delegate of the Trades Hall, there would be perfect contentment in the conditions of- this award." The annual meeting of the Greymouth Regatta vi'l be held to-morrow (Tuesday) evening, at "the Lyceum Hall. at. B o'clock; The Greymouth Lawn Tennis Club hold their annual meeting at the Town Hall to-night, at S o'clock. The Grey County Council are inviting tenders for the construction of works in the Count\. See advertisement. The following sales were reported at the Dunedin Stock Exchange on Saturday Westport Coal £1 8s and £1 Ss 4 d. A sitting of the Assesesment Court will be held at the Court House, Gievmouth, on Tuesday. October 22, at 10 a.m . for the purpose, of hearing objections to the revised valuation roll for the Grey Valley. At the Magistrate's Couit on Saturday morning, before Mr. J. G L. Hewitt, S.M./John Corkery Wmgrove, who was found drunk in Mawhera Quay on the nth inst , was fined 55 in default 24 hours' imprisonment Leading citizens and clients of the local branch of the Bank of New Zealand will meet at Revmgton's Hotel at five o'clock this afternoon to make a piesentation to Mr James Ferguson, the retiring manager, pnoi to his departuic for Patea. On Friday next , at 2 30 p m , at Trinity Hall, the Croquet Club are holding a huge art bazaar in aid of their liability on then new lawns All lovers . of art, needle-work should^ not fail to come along, as much trouble and patience has been expended during the winter to acquire the beautiful results Ladies, gentlemen and children will find articles both useful, jmique and ornamental. A Wellington press message states that John Christian, who has been staying at the Imperial Hotel for about six weeks past, was discovered at 10 55 on Saturday night lying on the floor of his room groaning. Medical assistance was .called, and after being tieated he was sent to the hospital It is supposed to be a case of lvsol poisoning.' He had been captain of the steamer Kotuku, which was wrecked af Greymouth some time ago.

A start has been made .with, the harbour improvements at Newcastle costing 120,000. The wharfage accommodation, will be largely augmented. . Griffin, cashier to the Robert Little Company, Sydney, has . been sentenced to three years' imprisonment with hard labour for embezzling of his employers' monies. Turf gambling was the cause. At the present time 260 .men are employed in connection with the Otira tunnel works, but the con h actors could easily place fifty more, im;iv. particularly miners, if they w«mo-/avail-able. A Taihape business man states. that the small farmer is slowly but surely filling in the unoccupied areas, around Taihape, and every year brings forth new customers arid an increase of business. •.: . • ---■ : Rain is greatly needed in the greater part of the .State of New South Wales. The crops are ' suffering tliiough the continued heavy dry winds. The prospects of the potato crop ar ft nbt^promisins 1 . • There is a widespread epidemic of dengue fever on the Gilbert Islands, resulting" in a number of deaths. This is the first visitation of the group. It is ' supppsed that the -disease" spread from the Marshall Islands. ) . In her last report to the Wellington Hospital Board, the nurse who visited the Maoris at Otaki said she had been attending one old Native woman whose age was said to*be 102 years. The centenarian's . trouble was bron-. chitih', and she was reported to have made a wonderful recovery. The Gisborne Times says it now looks as if Poverty Bay may yet be the first possessor of permanent arid .good roading, as there is a proposition to come before the. council next meeting to go into the matter of paving their streets with "Kortfelt." This material has stood the test for three years of the heaviest traffic in Gisborne, and shows no signs of wear yet. Kortfelt is a New Zealand patent, made of a specially prepared tar and laid down with sawdust and shavings,, and has proved a dustless, soundles and watertight road.