WORK ON WHARVES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 30 June 1943, Page 4

WORK ON WHARVES

STATEMENT BY MINISTER REPLY TO ASSOCIATION Wellington, This Day. The statement made yesterday by the New Zealand Waterside Employers’ Association concerning work on the wharves was replied to by the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, last evening. “The statement, it is claimed.” said the Minister. “is intended to correct the impression conveyed by my statements in the House of Representatives recently of the good results obtained in the dispatch of vessels, but it goes further than it purports to do. for it quite obviously substitutes the opposite impression by reflecting discreditably on the condu . and work of waterside workers, and is so erroneous that it calls for a reply. “In the first place, my remarks were as implied in the Press statement, based on figures supplied from the records of the Waterfront Control Commission, and the accuracy of such records had been previously attested by a qualified appoin*ee on behalf of the shipping companies. The commission records bbth the net and gross speeds of working, and whatever basis is taken for comparison, the results unmistakably disclose improvement over the past year’s working compared with the previous year, which in turn disclosed marked improvement over the preceding years.” The Minister said the following averages for work for ail ports in the Dominion over the past year would be a clear indication of good performance:— Pc.- gang Tons per hour meas. Overseas — Mutton & Lamb 778 c/cs. equals 42.15 Butter 662 boxes equals 23.45 Cheese 245 crates equals 24.50 Wool 78 bales equals 35.1 General cargo 152 tons U.S.S. CoGeneral cargo 133 tons Other Coastal Companies— General cargo 16, tons “The above represents an all-over in crease of approximately 25 per cent, over pre-war speed of working.” said the Minister. “It will be seen by the unprejudiced that there is justification for commending the men in general for the job they are doing. It is. of course, true that there are discreditable occurrences here and there, but they are not nearly so prevalent as the Press article would indicate, and they represent only a minor factor in lost output. “I have yet to come across any large employer of labour who can seriously claim that no abuses exist in his establishment. or that the maximum output had beet* attained, and I am afraid that a state of absolute perfection will never be reached where the human factor is involved. It is all the more necessary, therefore, that undesirable incidents that occur should not De singled out or magnified out of proportion and published so as to create false impressions in the mind of the public, and give rise to a wave of resentment among the great majority of good workers on the waterfront, for this is anything but helpful in effecting remedies. It is a well-un-derstood axiom that the correction of faults L the more easily accomplished when an appreciation of virtues is shown: in fact, in the possession of the commission are figures (available to any responsible citizen) which will indicate conclusively that despite faults the cost per ton and speed of working cargo in New Zealan 1 compare very favourably indeed 'v*i the cost and speed of working in the United Kingdom. the United States of America, and Australia.”