Labour and the Contract System

Maoriland Worker, Volume 13, Issue 36, 5 September 1923, Page 14

Labour and the Contract System

At the last meeting of the Wellington Labour Representafnon Committee strong support was given to the opposition raised by Labour M.P.S to t.h© proposal t 0 let railway construction by private conitract, and ja motion was carried on the following lines: "The Wellington L.R.C. congratulates the Parliamentary Labour Party o n its objection to a reversion to the private contract system in the construction of national railways, and protests against the Government's decision to reintroduce this reactionary method. The L.R.C. draws public attention to the fact that in the past when the private contract system obtained in railway construction it was, from the public viewpoint, a dismal failure. Its inefficiency was frequently demonstrated by the incapacity of-contractors to complete the work they had undertaken, and by the fact that thq State had to take over from the contractors works which the latter had lamentably muddled. Another feature of the private contract system was its disposition towards scamped work and jerry building to the public detriment, which contributed towards the influences that forced the Government ultfmjately to abandon it. From "the point of view of employment of officials, it is more expensive than a publicly-organised activity, while there is a n anti-social tendency in the sySisem, which is maintained purely for private' profit at the expense of tho workers and the community, to swesat and drive the toilers and lower their standard of living. For these reasons ;the L.xt.C. resents the Government's decision to revive the con-: tract system, and calls on the workers to give their active support to the party which *s fighting this reversal to the bad conditions of tho past."