MILFORD SOUND CAMP

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22833, 18 March 1936, Page 7

MILFORD SOUND CAMP

PUBLIC WORKS MEN’S COMPLAINTS PROTEST AGAINST CONDITIONS MINISTER PROMISES INVESTIGATION (From Our Special Reporter) INVERCARGILL, March IT. The complaints of men who left the Public Works camp at Milford Sound at the»week-end were placed before the Minister of Public Works, Mr Semple, at Invercargill to-day. One of the men, who . arrived at Bluff by the Mararaa on Sunday, stated that the men were making no complaint about the pay, but it was the conditions against which they protested. He said that a good deal of difficulty was experienced with the men in charge of the canteen, whose treatment of the 70 odd men in camp left a great deal to be desired. On canteen days it was necessary for the men to order everything they needed, and if there was any item they forgot it was impossible to get it from the canteen later because of the attitude of the men in charge. It was also stated that there were a good many men working on the Milford job who imagined that they were being paid at the rate of 10a a day, whereas they had really been reduced to 9s a day. This was exemplified in the case of a man from Oamaru who wanted to collect his pay, and found that he was being paid at the rate of only 9s a day, whereas he had thought he was earning 10s a day. Certain of the tasks assigned to the men were described as “ nigger’s work,” and as being unfit for men to do. In the course of a general reply, during which he promised to investigate the complaints, the Minister stated that he proposed to give the men on public works every facility to do their best. At another stage he referred to the new system of public works employment which the Government proposed to introduce.

“ We have an agreement drafted,” he *aid, “but it cannot operate until Parliament meets. Relief work conditions on public works are going to be abolished, but the House must make the arrangements for the financing ■ of the scheme. I* am satisfied it will be. the best Public Works arrangement in any part of the world. A 40-hour week is to be introduced. Both married and ■ingle men will be on a better footing, and Maoris> will be paid at the same rates as the pakehas. One of the first Bill* to be introduced will be one to get rid of the Railways Board, so that we can get on with the Napier-Gisborne railway and provide more productive work for the men. That agreement will operate in a little while, and in a few weeks the men will be working under new conditions.”.