STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 111, 14 May 1906, Page 1

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS.

The Minister of Public Works has given an interview to a "Post" reporter regarding the trouble among cooparatiye laborer* on'the Nprth Man?} railway works. ' The Minister said the basis of the co-operative system was payment by results. A man under this system got what he earned. The standard rate of pay for a navvy of average ability was 8s per day of eight hours' work- There was no quostipa of overtime: They gob that rate for the work whether it was done in the morning and afternoon, or the afternoon and evening. Men of better than average usefulness got more than the 8s per day, and those below the average got less pay. Only a few men earned the maximifm. Gangs usually averaged, seven or eight men, and if they were mixed in the way the Palmerston message declared they were, then it was contrary to his (the Minister's) instructions, for the men were allowed to make up their own gangs subject to the supervision of the eneir neer in chai'gfis. jf any member of the gang was found to be incompetent, then the other members could ballot him out. This right of ballot wjas frequently exercised. . The result was that the gangs were composed of men of average ability. It was no unusual thing, said the Minister, for men to leaye jpjbs which werp |)ping parried out by contractors, and Government work felt the same influence. It had also to be remembered that a large number of laborers were engaged upon the main trunk works. At the end of last month gOOQ W§n were, on the Jpb, and numbers had been sent forward since. Frequently men who had been earning good money knocked off for the purpose of visiting their families, or to have a spell. Others, again, who were unaccustomed to the work, were dissatisfied because they could not bring their earnings up to the standard Bay, T_U« j}6,pavtme,nt's trouble generally arose from the ranks of the incompetent. Another source of trouble aro»e from the bad weather that was experienced along the line of operations. The weather in the country, as in the City, sgrip.qsly affget^d lafocirgi's? earnings. During the past summer, a period of only five weeks of fin© weather was experienced along the southern section of the main trunk works. The Minister said he had not officially received word that from forty to fifty men. had left the w-orkfj, as stated in the message above quoted, but he would not be surprised if it was. bo. Mr Ball-Jones produced a monthly rot urn, showed the earnings of the men on the works during the past three months on three sections of. the main trunk works. For eight honrs worked \yen< day, the following table show's the average earnings of the men \- — •

Section Jan. Feb. Mar. Paongaroa ... 9s 5d 8s lid 8s 6d Taurangarere* 7s 2d 7s 3d ,7s 4d Waiourii 7s 7d 7s 5d 7s 6d Murimutu ... 8s fjd 7s Od 7s 3d

On the Taurangarere section the highest daily wage earned during January was 8s Bd, and the lowest 5s lOtid, and during- starch the maximum was 8s 8d and the minimum 5s Id. On the Paengaroa section, Avhich is north of Taihapo, the maximum for January w-as 10a, and the. minimum Bs, and for last month the respective limits were 9s 2d and 7s 4d. On the Waiourii .section da 3d was the highest and 4s Id the lowest wages paid in January, and in March the earning ranged from 10s to 5s- 3d. On the Murimutu section the range of pay was from 8s 9d to 5s 6d in January, and fi'om Bs 2d to 4s IQd in March. None of these rates ram« as low as the rates in the Palmej'ston message. It struck the Minister as remarkable that there were no complaints regarding stores on the northern section of the works. He had found during his recent inspection of the line, that the men on the northern section had established a store on co-operative lines run by their own directors and manager. Here the necessaries of life were supplied at reasonable rates. He would like to see the men on the southern section adopt the same plan. The Department, in view of the increased number of men that was being drafted to the southern wgrlcs,. aad thy difficultlfcts of transport, was making arrangements for supplies, whereby the needs of the workers would be provided for JWSQMhJy dul'! 11^ the winter months.

In answer to a question, the Minister said the party of English navvies \yht> Hi-riviid by th<> Tongariro, and Avho went north, would be employed on the central section of the MainTrunk works. They would work under the co-operative system, and would form their own gangs. If they were as experienced in navvyihg as they claimed to be, they should be able to earn the average rate of pay, 8s per day oi eight hours' work.