TIMBER WORKERS.

Grey River Argus, 2 June 1922, Page 7

TIMBER WORKERS.

SECRETARY’S REPORT. Since last report the following mills have been visited:—W. Morris’s Cronadun; P. McAlpine, The Landing; Jackson Bros, Inangahua Junction; Diggers, Junction Mill; Cape Foulwind : Bowater and Bryan’s Town Mill Fairdown Bush; Watson Mill, Ngakav.au; W. Morris’, M aiinangarou. At all mills union mat- ' tors are in first-class order. The mills in the Buller district are | working full-handed. The mills on the Buller Road, with the exception of the Diggers’, (who by the way arc cutting first-class timber, which certainly is a credit to the workers concerned), are ■working short-handed. Jackson Bros., who usually employ five or more men have only one man employed. .I’. McAlpine who has had about 12 men, | has only about six working, and W. Morris of (Tonudun w: s temporarily! closed down, but expected to start in a 1 week’s time. When one hears the squeal about a shortage of orders, and secs some of the timber which is cut for the market, it makes one wonder that there are i any orders at all, and in the interest of tin* industry it is up to the mill-own- I ers tO put decent timber on the mrrket, if they want to compete with millers who are cutting good timber.. There is no doubt that the rotten class of timber put on the market by some of the | mill-owners during the timber boom is the cause of the slackness of orders to some degree to-day. TIMBER MARKET. A few weeks ago I wrote in this column pointing out that the mill-owner | was not going to lose any of his pro- ; fits if he could hold on. even if the I workers were thrown out of employ- | ment, and since then one or two other I mills have slackened hands sooner than ; j lose :ny of their profits on t imber. The mill-owners will openly tell you that wages are responsible for the high I price of timber, but the following fig- I ures should show that wages are only 1 a small item compared with the in- I crease since 1919. In 1919 when the | timber workers first agreement came I into operation the minimum wages were 10/- per day, but only a very small per- I uent: ge were as low as 10/-, the mini- | mum wage. To-day they are 14/4, making a total increase of 4, 4 per day. Let us compare this with the timber rises per 100. In 1919 the average price was

10/1; in 1'920 it rose to an average of 20/1; making a tot; 1 rise of 4/- per 100, and the above are only rimu prices. \\ bite pine was considerably better. Now 24 men can, after taking all works into consideration, cut an average of 6,000 per day, which is on a low estiin: te. That gives the owners .£l2 per day increase in price, and wages increase is £5 1 - which leaves .£6/10/per day on a 6,000 output, extra profit on 1919 prices, or just about .£175 per month. 1 have purposely ent the output per man down, leaving the employer a good margin, but I believe that

the 0,000 figures could easily be mrde 7,500. However, it would not be fair to expose the exploiters too much, because after all they have some feelings and most have their profits so as their wives and families can maintain a decent standard of living, even if the i workers’ wives and families have to I exist under rotten conditions. Mr Timber Worker, it. is up to you to • study out tin* above facts, and while ‘ you are organising your ranks to take charge of the industry which you work, and to throw off your backs the parasites whoso whole object is to retain the present system so that you and your children can be the workers and they the profiteers you should remember th: t it will be easier to get rid of the parasite and take control of the industries when you arc ready, if you have a government in power favourable to the establishing of an industrial parliament, not a Liberallory combine of exploiters who are solely there in the interests of the exploiting class. r I he mills on the Otira Line will be visited in a day or two as well as the Reefton Line. MACHINERY ENQUIRY. Since last report, I have been favoured with a copy of the findings of the now famous inquiry held in Greymouth some time back. In each case the findings were 4 ‘that no blame was attachable to anyone.” Now if this finding carried any weight, which it certainly docs not, then even so it would be significant—as it actually is a very good thing—that the workeri who lost his leg got his compensation (with a good bit over the limit, under the N.C.A.), within a few days of the accident. His chance of getting much would have been small if they depended merely on the finding, because the Court found that the Managers’ word was good enough for them, and that the worker appeared to be jumping off the locomotive to open the gate, (which gate, by the by, on that particular occasion, did not happen to be shut). However a little more will bo heard of the above inquiry at a later date, when the famous House of talk opens at the end of the month. F. TURLEY, Secretary. W.T.Y. A S.I.U. of W.