PETONE WORKSHOPS.

NZ Truth, Issue 99, 11 May 1907, Page 1

PETONE WORKSHOPS.

RAILWAY MUDDLING MBTfIODS.

The, idea of the State cairying' out tbe construction of. its own rolling stock for .railway traffic is a good one '.'that; must find favor with every 0> dempcrat'- m the ! icplony. Thous'ahdsVpf 'poudds are uridbu'btedly saved, annually by the State iindertaking the. work instead of pla,cia?- the oo_;strt:ctibn N of cars m the hands of private builders, or importin'* from England or America. But the' saving ; is' . not as great or the benefit locally , so .. meritorious^ as/. .the Governrnei^^^ , would claimf 'Th^re^is: far too .much pblical influence' at work, and too many of the •'fcbi.of the family" class of workmen pushed" into responsible billets. '; , There -V are -numerous wasters who * have 'fcesn tried by private employers and, fo***^T wanting who hj.an->. age to worm k_eir way into th'e|iu|)--lic sgr#ce, a^d it is a remiirkahlb thing that it is mostly thefce wastrels thkt Tare given the best billets: The reason is 'very obvious. Political . influence forced •/ them into the 'service, and as they are not capable of handling a topi/ they are given some soft snaps that should rightly belong to some bard worker who has earned h-is^prbm'p#oTJ*v -There is va^tstory ; told of jbhe late, Mr 7 Seddon. "'He sent a .'young feUow along to**" ;bne of the Tourist Department offices: with a note to the officer m charge that he was to be put on. That official had no vaoaricy, but he had to make one; He set the youth- going with a pen and paper on some tptotally unnecessary returns only to find to his unutterable amazement that, "the . bright hopeful couldn't write. He communicated with Mr. Seddon, VCannot give a place, he cannot' write." The reply that came hack* was simply, "Teach Mm." There may, ibe no truth m the story, but nevertheless it is a beautiful illustration of the 'state of the:. Civil, Service.' Nowhere is this more.glaringly m evidence than m the work- ■ at Petone. Emigrants from ! the Old Country have no difficulty m getting bnv whether they are skilled o* notv. Ay colonial, unless Jhe has : political iflSuiiibe, is never by ■■ a®y. cha.ncetakW '-on until he has proved his capability, hut the new chum is '< a.lways takdir* oh trust. There seems to te a deep-rooted conviction among Government official^ that. any. arrivals from "Home" must be a ; class better than the local- grown : article.. They are Dut ori m prefer--ence to men who have been- casual workers fbr years, and who are justly entitled to the position. Only recently one of these ' "emigres," as.,. they call them, was put oh as a ' "permanent casual," and he only, lasted a 'fortnight. He was .given work that any rivet boy could have handled, but 'he complained that , it - ; •fera's too -bird. He took the next hoat Home- to his ma. or somewhere. < * ,-V ■• - * * .T-■' '' :- The want^^f a, : complete system of contcol is .sadly shov/iraig, and the slip-shod methotl' m whioh the: work is car ried: /out^ 8 most discreditable , Cfeo the officials' 'who are entrusted with the -thsw^cement. As is u^ual (where a mWS-^ment is incqinpeteh't it has to .e-detoise its power ' '-.some svay , and • the^gfofe the men aire . subjjected to aft -^Sorts of petty, tyrannies. As an ekiairiple, some time ago a number iiien were fined' 10s each for gbi^-*flown to the National Hotel? , ' : ahd: having a mid-day pint to wash-down their lunch. There was a° deal of enterprise Bhowir'ih -batching these ouljprils. Officittls ; ;*#ere posted at various points,: ■ cpe with -a field-ipJßass (was perclK*d l *on v^" cliff, w^th the result that every- Offender was hauled •before the Bw»t£ tribunal and fined d.Os. Why tn^e^irien musn't have a •pint bf heei iV wM; their lunch isn't apparent ; but-^-hat is one of • the rtnes', and d-tf'Ms ' stnietly adhered • to. There is no. riife argainst employing 'incom,petentsy 'or against wasters with frieods itf -higjb plax*«s being given the pick of'tfie gr«*t. It is go-, as-you-please.' tliete, but when i_t ; io vexa-tFdftts little regulation's; 'that do not make for the efficiency of the worki ; jand - only ca;use an-' : noyance to' the Srtfen, there is a most ' eXOTiplary stsiotness showni. AU that 5s required to make the workshops /look like a gaol is a few warders " iwith guns posted about the premises. - ' ''■"'" ' "• "'■ *»' o 1 ' 1 : iPoSmWyi '' rwitli : « view of, ,««ihina }_&»: i&ow/ eteftply, « .very, m m- J

portion of hoy labor is employed, far m a,ccess to that allowed any private- firm. If any employer were to 'employ boys m the same proportion tp men, as is done at the workshops tl.ere '*_yoiild be a howl irom Unionists, from/\one end of the colony to the other. Rd vet boys they call thfcm, but" it; is boy la;bor just the same. Jt is. one of the farces of our legislation ; that the Government can make laws, and break them into * little hits with Utmost impunity. The Classification Act, like a feood many .'other- Acts, was intended to be an assistance to the workers, and pfb'perly administered, it would be a very, good thing. But of course it isn't properly administor-e&T-nbtbing'is at Petone except the anti-pint -• regulation. The men* /are classified all right, but they don't get "milch benefit from that fact. For instance, yard "lifters" .have to take a* crowd of rivet boys with them when there is any lifting to do. If they only took a fair proportion it would not be so bad, but they have to -take so many that really \ the job^ is done by the boys. As the boys get from "'' 3s 6d to 4s 6d per da/"V and tfie lifters should get 8s . tfi 9s per {lay, it will readily be seen that it pays" to 'give the lifters plenty ; of boy assistance. The classification scheme seems to be an excellent means of putting the waster oh a g-pod screw, and the grafter on . a lower scale. V The rivet boys~ are given a brush and paint not, and sent' into the paint shop. They do men's work there for 3s Gd a day. Of course, this cuts down adult latter, and makes a better showing for" the department. How would some of the samples of work turned- out at the Petone works have figured m the "sweated industries" exhibit ? ■*-'* ■ ■ . * Some rather pfeouiiar things happen; too, m regard to the .casual hands— those of the weekly and daily type. Some of .these become m due course menibers 'of the general staff, not because of any - particular merit shown, but because'^ of the fatherly ihterc-at shown- m their welfare by some memtoer of Parliament. It is marvellous what; an interest some mem-bers take m - their constat- « uehts, particularly' if their seat he a hit •' shaky, and the particular constituent should happen to be a. good graftei*. But it isn't all casuals who are so lucky. Most of, them are sub-- , jected to very peculiar treatment. Some of them would have almost a continuous year with just an occasional .break to prevent them becoming permanent- .Others Could hardly get a_; look m: at ; all: However, this got too strong, and the men made ; application to the. general manager, and he issued an order that no casual was to be kept on longer than a fortnight at a time. This was acted upon for a while, but p-radually fell into disuse, and the old tinie. servers were having a great innings again, but again it was made too hot, arid the old; fortnight on and a" fortnight off rule came back with a bump. What, sort of a living does the Government imagine it >is giving these casual workers ? How does it expect theiii to exist upon a f ortnights work m a (month. Even if they studied Miss , Kirk's scheme on the £2 basis they couldn't scrub along. Even that lady would be puzzled, this paper ventures to think, to suggest any means which a . married man with a small family could live on £1 4s ncr week.. It is a sort of charita'h'le aid at best, and' rather poor aid at that., . .-• • .-••• ,' - . • ■ It would be thought that at least the Government would provide decent sanitary accommodation for like . workmen, hut what they provide at Petone is a standing, disgrace. There is ' nothing but filth about the lat- ! rin<es. The buildings are of the most tumble-down description, the floors are soaking with water, and the stenph that arises is terrible. The Whole thing is* open to the glare of any passer-by;, and m two places' there' are openings where the- wea-ther-boards liave been taken off, Which enable the bosses, if they so desire, toi see how long a man prolongs his stay.- The floors are m urgent.need of repair, - m fact, the whole show, if burned down, would hot be any los 9. A pattern might be taken from the Gear Company's conveniences. They go beyond what ,tfce v ' law, compels, and apart from

having- their latrines built en the best and latest models, they provide bath-rooms fbr their wbrkars. The Government, ..which should lead the way m .these things* ds lamentably behind^ The men are asked to put up with any old' kind of convenience, and say nothing. It is time that a departmental inquiry was hold into tlie running oi the workshops, and the whole system- put on a n-ew footing.