THE ADDINGTON AFFAIR.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LVI, Issue LVI, 29 January 1909, Page 5

THE ADDINGTON AFFAIR.

:\[EN HITTING BACK

fPEH. PRESS ASSOCIATION.!

CBRISTCHURCH, January 29

One of the men engaged at the Addington railway workshops made a statement to a representative of the Press to-day, in the course of which ho put the case for the men in a nutshell. In view of the feeling that exists at present anMragst -fclie men as tlio result of the charges contained in the general manager's letter, and in justice to the men, he considered that one line of their defence should be made public at once. That defence was the obsolete character of tho appliances at the workshops, appliances with which the men at Addington were expected to turn out work equal in cheapness and quality to that turned out at other works. "Take the cost of one of the express engines constructed for the North Island Main Trunk line," he said. "One of the boiler plates was in the rollers at Addington about eight weeks, simply because the machinery is hopelessly out of date in rolling boiler plates. An up-to-date plant will do the work with a man and three lads at 30s per day, and will do a plate a day. At Addington, on the other hand, with the machine used there, the cost is five men at £2 15s per day. They may be three weeks on the job. Again, the punching machines at Addington have been in the establishment for the last thirty years, and are entirely out of date. It is impossible to do any quick work with the obsolete machinery we have to work with."

He. described the manner in which rivets are put in by one of the hydraulic machines, and stated that the cranes used for lifting the boiler are sometimes manned by three or 'four men in an outside firm. With the same amount of machinery these cranes would be driven either by electricity or by an endless belt, requiring the attention of only one man and an attendant to look after the boiler. He also alleged that the steam hammer does not perform its duties satisfactorily. A blacksmith has been known to take absolutely half an hour to heat up a piece of 9-inch round steel and place it under the large steam hammer. As soon as the steam was released in the cylinder. of the hammer it would come down with A thud and stay in that position until the steel was so cold that the men' would be absolutely disgusted with the whole show. In the meantime a large number of blacksmiths and their mates would be waiting with their "heats" in the fire for an opportunity to use the hammer. ' With regard to flanging large plates, this is still done by manual labor at Addington, though in up-to-date shops hydraulic machines are used. Three or four men are required for a flanging machine, and the process is over in a few minutes. By the Addington process about eight men are required, and about, half a day is taken.

Continuing, he said that comparing the cost of engines built by Price Bros, with those built at Addington it has never been taken into consideration that Addington has to bear the cost of a large staff of officers. There is a very large staff of foremen at Addington which you would not find at Price Bros.

Replying to a telegram, Mr Millar says it is proposed to hold a public enquiry, not a departmental one. It will be held by persons altogether outside the railway service, and will be open to the press. "I think you will agree that it cannot be more public than this, and when details are published I think you "will be satisfied."