PUBLIC WORKS CAMPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22834, 19 March 1936, Page 10

PUBLIC WORKS CAMPS

POSITION OF.SINGLE MEN RESTORATION OF STATUS > (Fbom Oor Special Reporteb) QUEENSTOWN, March 18. " The single man has been outlawed during the past four years, but now he is going to be a citizen again," the Minister /of Public Works (Mr R. Semple) said when replying to-day to a deputation of single men which waited on him when he passed over the nearlycompleted Kingston-Queenstown road. The men complained that all the best jobs on the road were given to married men and that single men had little chance to earn even the 0s a day they were supposed to be able to make. The deputation also stated that they could not get satisfaction in regard to the rates for certain work done from either the overseer or from the engineer who visited the work periodically. " That is all going to change," said the Minister in reply. " When our agreement with the New Zealand Workers' Union comes into force in a few weeks' time married and single men will be on the same rates, and this itself will undoubtedly have the effect of preventing the bad feeling that arose in the camps under the old system. We also want co-operation and good feeling between the men and the engineers, and we intend to provide libraries and other amenities in the camps "so that young men may study and improve their minds in the increased leisure time they will have when the 40-hour week comes into operation." The Minister emphasised the necessity, for every Public Works employee to join tlie New Zealand Workers' Union. "Any man who refuses to join has got to get off the job," he added, "and I am going to give ray engineers instructions for instant dismissal in cases like that. All negotiations between the workers and the Government will be carried on through the New Zealand Workers' Union, and there will be no need for work to stop while the negotia- ' tions are going on."