HOMES FOR THE WORKERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 88, 23 February 1907, Page 5

HOMES FOR THE WORKERS.

DEPARTMENTAL MUDDLE AT CROSS CREEK. More Wretched Railway Mismanagement. A Languid, Weak, Ineffectual Department, '

The resident question- at Cross Creek bias developed into a problem which ought to 'have -been solved long ago, but Which, so long as it is treated -m the" usual departmental way— languidly, weakly, and ineffectively—Witt* remairi a" standing grievance! and a source of perpetual discomfort and discontent. The story of how the railway men live at Cross Cteek ; is interesting, and serves to. illustrate the need for a mdire pxbgressive aad sympathetic management in' the Itaterests of the employees. * There axe always over fifty men and • youths employed at the Creek, the preponderance of numbers being, at all times m favor of the loco branch. The married men have lived m the railway houses and the single men, for the most part, occupied hut's provided by the department. For years a number of the married people>*took > in single, mfeii/ as ' hoarders, 1 -and the- arrange-* ment worked remarkably well. The young _me.hr enjoyed something of* the comforts rind privacy of home, and the charge -for their board afforded a welcome addition to the inpe-me of paterfamilias. Besides this, pleasant friendships were formed, and many of the young men found themselves free from, the temptations that so sorely beset those who- have nor home-life, or companionship, or amusement mc spare hoiirs. In fact, this boarding-out answered remarkably well. By and bye some individual memr bers of the community who* were "hatching;" olamoreS for a hall or barrack. The . Department utilised the material; of an old station/ for the erection of a barracks, arid a person was found to lease the prenftses, and act as general providor for the men. A number of the. men took up their quarters there,; but the Department instead of charging a nominal rehtal till the experiment should be found to succeed, charged the lessee £1 10fi per week. Now, the worik of the lessee, was particularly hard and his requirements were very numerousHe had to spend most. of the 24 hours m the kitchen ; and as there were three shifts, of men,, meals, were wanted at all hours. The. first lessee who, was nracfy festeemed by all, found that although his boarders all paid him promptly, he was not making a reasonable prpfit for himself, and very naturally he complained to the Department and asked, for a. re-* duction bf rent. ....,■ With characteristic clumsiness and penuriousness the -management declin- . Ed to accede to the request/ and indicated 'that they .would .compel the men who did not avail themselves of the barracks, to do so. /Forthwith all married, occupants of houses, Who were keeping, boarders received a peremptory, order ,. to ; imscnediately ,get rid of such hoarders, and ,' iri futurenot to \ provide meals or residence for anybody. ' • The lodgers themselves Were, also commanded to "clear out" ' of their quarter Sv. This, of course, created an amount of dissatisfaction that the management were riot aware of. It was felt , to be tyrannical s and unjustrfiable, and it was most certainly a short-sighted policy, tbe^ carrying put of which, deprived many estimable young men pf ; home-life and forced them ihto a position highly* distasteful to them. It is quite ?afe to say, that this sudden rupture ot particularly satisfactory , arrangements has reacted ihcist iniufiously on the men affected. : Some of the ejectedi lodgers went reluctantly to the barracks. A few tried Mbatcbdri-g" with indifierent results ; and . the lives of fully half the young fellows became a, dreary, unendurable bondage, rin.relieved by. any refining in'iluence of home. ' In process of time, "bhe original lessee gave up the business. Hid successor remained only a few months md was m turn supceedro hy a hew / tenant, who possessed skill and experience m the management of such .i business. A great' brightening up all round was. manifested ; but- as the third lessee pointed out, the rent he had td pay prevented his employing the money m getting a night assistant, and he found the hours so long and the work so exhausting, and .the expenses so great, that he too had to* throw up the business, to the regret of all concerned. Had it not been- for the management obstinately, walking on m the old rut, the third ' lessee would have been there ' still, and harmony would have reigned. . That was a small matter. It was the trifle of rent that the blear-eyed management was worrying about, aot the interests of the community, . And at, this .point,. begins^ a story of discord ahd strife arid worry, that should/ never have had to be told; but which assuredly ought not now to remain untoldThe retifihg lessee sold out to a Surth, who entered into possession, c, however, became inyolved m disputes •*with his boarders, and took the. precipitate action of hurrying off to the management and complaining of certain individuals!. ' The management displayed sinjgular incapacity as, instead of recommending him to manage his business by himself, they listened to his complaints and pro- ' • mised an enquiry. In the meantime the men left, and as another hoard-ing-house keeper was carrying on business they descended upon him m a body. If they overcrowded his rooms, they certainly added' to his income very considerably. In due time the enquiry was held, and admissions were made on both sides, and a sort of half compromise was arranged, under Which some of the men returned to the barracks. The position, 'however, is an extremlv unsatisfactory one, the men are aggrieved and the lessee is put to • loss and inconvenience, and the cpmrnunitv is needlessH expited. It is contrary to common sense that a Department should take up such an attitude towards its employees. The men should be allowed reasonable freedom of action. They give their. services (and arduous ones, . too\ tn the Department, and m return they are harriedj by coercive

memoranda, and driven from pillar to px>st, and generally goaded to the point of exasperatiori. A finer body of men could not', be "*found m the colony— loya,l, brotherly; and most courteous considerate towards womenfolk and children, yet they are watched, and dogged, and blistere(d from day- to day, over trivial circumstances. Harmless conviviality is frowned upon, and the administration of the social life ; of the Creek by the ..management savors of puritanic tyranny and shuffle-bust-ing sanctimony. '-„' V The traveller who passes through the Creek and looks out, from his car upon the little grotips;. of residents who are wont to -watch the daily arrival and departure of the mail,- can have little idea, of .the drawbacks under which the railway men here live. The place. is isolated and it is like living -ori; ..^n. , .island,-' The- Community -has to ari.ake its own comfort and to fall hack ori its own resources for - amusement and mutual and mental improvement outside the hours of duty. And it can scarcely be; denied that the management owe a duty to their employees, . That j duty they discharge very v fully and regularly m the matter • of remuneration, but some responsibility surely rests upon them to promote the comfort, the moral and social Weir fare of the men../ . The iState control of railways appears, from, the, -democratic point' of view, logical; eridu^h, .yet subject to much abuse, not; by the . public but by the bureaucracy* that it sets, up. There are too many bosses and shbhosses. And further (and this* the public can themselves refitif y ) there is a growing tendency, on the, part -pf the management to resent criticism. Pray, who and what are v they ' that they, servants of the people that they ate, should be, immune from criticism ? Is? it consciousness of weakness ; that causes this indignant protest. TautOeucte animis;- letc? A department- that is . infinitely .bet* ten .: managed , viz; , the Post Office,rieyer arises any angry protest againsj) criticism.. Th£ consciousness. . of efficiency enables them ., to endure, such m dignified silence. But .When the Railway Departtrient, .that .is /so penurious m mattets such as are re-' f erred tp above, flashes the, people's money about m the construction of costly experimental machinery, which is perfectly well known to'he. soine r thing of a failure, and somebodychooses to point . this out, . the man- j agement.. runk off to 4 the/ Minister, who actpally (incredible as it may seem) embodies it iri; a! childish "tag" to his, Ministerial statement ! ' '•,'." .. .