THE RAILWAY DISCHARGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11843, 21 December 1901, Page 5

THE RAILWAY DISCHARGES.

-. ■* . : I' BUSINESS FAILURES IN THE KING COUNTRY. • '■ \AT yesterday's meeting of the Council of ' ,vf the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, the 'president (Mr. D. R. Caldwell) referred to ; the discharges of men from the public works in the Auckland district. He stated | that the mercantile community had suffert'd very seriously in the way of bankruptcies.. -Last week -he attended; meetings jU in . connection with three bankruptcies in one small district in the King Country. •'!« All three had book debts, and' as they had \*i' no warning of the dismissal of the men, they could not recover their debts. " * Mr. Ewington held that ' the Chamber i should be very careful in the matter. He p.. did not believe in the principle of these co- | 'iV . operative works at all, and they should I•-■ j § - not send any letter to the Government ~ / ■, that might indicate that they desired 'the continuance of co-operative work. • Mr. Graves Aickin said work done by * co-operative labour cost the colony 2-5 per * cent, more than work by contract would I .. do. Mr. Fowlds said they might condemn «the: sudden and unexpected dismissals with- < out entering into the question of co-opera-j tive works .as a whole. \ ■'' It was resolved that this Council depreij " cates the action of the Government in dis- | ' missing without sufficient notice a large i number of men employed by the Govern--I|P >j? merit on railway works, thus causing seri- ; :lt?l?-';ous"losi to. a large number of storekeepers, S and to the community, many of whom Ijfes have thereby been forced into banlcruptcy. ■-<- ! ""'i '<"* The Auckland Railway Le?.gue has re- | - : caved information that many workmen p :j?;;|Shave already been dismissed from the Otago | Central railway, and more are expected to 1 go. p J [BY TELEGRAPH.—-OWN COEBFSPONDSXT.j |j v - Kawakawa, Friday, t j . ' Since yesterday's telegram the latest dej! < velopments evidently point to a change of j 1 front, as only 16 men, all single, havo lj been dismissed from the railway works j! ■ here. Still, why should the extension be j' „ so delayed after former promises? Si ~~ . -■ - b-