CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 11394, 8 December 1898, Page 3

CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

[by a settler]. 11. In. commencing the second artiolo on the Co-operative Work?, we ask the public to note the fact that theie has, as yet, been no public.criticism/Of the system. There have been volumirious reports by officials, but there are two sides to every question, and considering that from three thousand to five thousand men have been pm< ployed annually for about five years, and from two or three millioEs sterling expended, it is quite time that fierce light of criticism should be "turned on," which through the public Press beats en all democratic institutions. And mark, that during all these five years, the growls, rows, acd icquiries have been incessant — first the complaint was the men's earnings were too high, next too low ; then the inspectors were incompetent and cruel, and the work badly carried out, &c, &c. Now, it was not to be expected that a new department controlling the employment of thousands of men and the expenditure of millions of pounds should suddenly spring into life perfectly aimed and accoutred. It is the Britisher's piinciple to make a start (while others stand considering) and improve methods as he goes along. But the very worst thing that could have happened to the Co operative system took pluco— namely, secrecy. It is a fact that daylight has not been let in yet ; and those of us who have studied the subject know that tbi?, state of things has simply arisen from che circumstances that a great Department of Public Works was suddenly tacked on to another Department without the provision of suitable machinery. It is stated on the very best authority that both the Hon. Mr Seddon and the Hon. Mr McKenzie have said repeatedly that they know matters on the Co-operative Works aie not as they should be, but they don't know how to get at the abuses. Ihe very handsome ■way they responded to the men'xjiersorial appeal ior an inquiry on the Ohura Koad works shoves an effort on their pare to do the best they know. But one blunder about the inquiry was that it was secret. The men's delegates understood in Wei lington that ie would be open to the public, and ac they returned they asked the Stratford newspapers to send reporters. The papers did their best, for they. ask sd to be allowed to send reporters and were refused. It is certainly not Cooperation when men ask for publicity and cannot get it. Intheee days of public criticism, if half a dozen men working in a boot factory ask for an inquiry, to be open to the public, it would be granted. Here is an inquiry on public works, taid to be tun on 00-operation, where at least 200 men were concerned, which was closed to )he public. The fact of the matter is that, under a system of Co-operation, at least one man elected by the workmen should *have sat on the Commission. It has been said by officials that a man could not be fotfhd amongst navvies good enough for such a responsible position, ancttoolibhly said, for this very thing has been done, with buqccss, in various Coopeiative businesses ; the average workman is unerring in his estimate of character. Had the inquiry been open to the public, and one of the men on the Commission, there would not have been the bitter element there was of the.officia's forming a united eftVt to discredit the evidence of ihe men, and to make it appear that they were a band of coni spirators ; at least if this element were not entirely absent, the effect would have been considerably lessened ; for no 4 only were the officials acting thus, but also touting for evidence, as for instance asking a storekeeper to come and give evidence against the men. Nor would there have been, as there was, the instance of an outsider being found by the officials (or he found them) who gave evidence against the men, and succeeded, "in the opinion of the man in the street," in perjuring himself, presumably to toady to the Inspector, and thus certainly damaged the workmen's cause. Nor, again, would there have been the total disregard of the men's request to have another Inspector placed over them. All the other items of complaint (or nearly all) were redressed, but this request was ignored. It was a very reasonable point of consideration, for the Parish priest will always christen his own friend's child first- h is human nature. There were a few, a very few, of the menwho abstained from taking part in the inquiry, and these few were increased by well planned suggestions a few days before the inquiry that one of the leaders who was doing bis best for the settlers in the Boss Settlement was really working against them and in bis own interests. Indeed these suggestions were so successful that not only did the men withdraw frcm backing him up, but were so enraged as to nearly have a mind to punch his head for a black-hearted conspirator against them. That the request for another Inspector was a proper one has been fully borne out by subsequent events— the expected has happened; the children referred to have indeed been baptized veiy liberally. To show how this objectionable feature of secrecy was carried out to the end, attention may be drawn to the fact that the decision of the Court was never told to the workmen, though asked for repeatedly, even asked for in the Bouse by the Member for the district ; the only infoimation given was that certain recommendations had been forwarded to th,e Survey Office, New Plymouth. Another illustration of secrecy, and one which will be admitted by the public aa going the length of squashing every principle of Co-operation. Three months before the inquiry came off one man had an interview with Mr G. F. Robinson in his office with the view to prove to Mr Bobinson, from the pay-sheets, that aome of the men were, for periods of five and six months and more, earning fifty aud sixty per cent, more than the crowd, and that contracts at higher prices were given them to enable them to make such wages. Mr Robinson said that it was not in his power to show the pay sheets; they could only btf examined by older ci the Minister or a Court. Ihis was certainty not Mr Eobiu son's fault. The incident is referred to as showing how s-ecr«cy is damaging the Co operative cause — indeed, laying a trap for inspectors and other officials. Under this injstery system it is quite too easy to close up the ranks, form a ring which no complaints ran get through, and call out " Great is Diana of the EphesiinH.* 1 Aa already stated, the inquiry held on the Ohura ltoad works was only a specimen. There have bern scores of them; indeed, the Commibbioners, Messrs Marsh and Bay, were at that time on tour, holding irquiries in different parts of New Zealand, and the Ohura one was really two separate courts of investigation 'ihe Tanner shd Milsom settlers had another lot of grievances about work cairiedout under another Koad laspector, and a separate Court was held at Government houf-.e, Pohokura. But let us see wnat were the men's complaints which brought about thid elaborate Court of Enquiry. Let us see if some such simple Committee as the following would not be better, perhaps ensure settlement of differences without any friction:— A Committee, Hay, of the Chief Surveyor or his appointre and one of the men elected by the workmen, and a third chosen by these two; the third to be snsone,.B.n outsider even, co long as the otner two agreed he was the proper man. Ihe main point of complaint was on the subject of earnings. The earnings were tut down to a btandard of six tbillings per day — some made more, some )esp, ai-d as the works were at a distance of 36 milfB lrcm Stratford, from where the ttorcs wtre chieiy packed, and accoidingly dtar, the men said they could not Jhtr; they also maintained that the standard of wagts was higher on Coop erufive Works in other districts. 'Jheiewasno question about this; it only needed \timple adjustment ; for instance, one Itoan named Baker had a letter from Mr Seddon stating, in reply to bis complaint, that the Department did not intend that the- men

j should be cut down below what wonld be ' a fair wage at a distance from centres of supply, aud mentioned that if seven I shillings per day was a reasonable wage near town, men at a distance) should get eight shillings. The officials admitted in their sumrniag up thac wages were lower on the Ohura Koad than on other Co* operativo Workp, nnd the explanation was that somo eighteen montha previously a circular bad been issued Ifrom the Department, Wellington, ordering that the standard rate of wages should be s : x shillings, and this circu'ar had not been countermanded as far as the New Plymouth officer was concerned. Truly a magnificent piece of red-tape. Next, the men complained that ihe plan of letting the road work at so much per chain iv a lump sum instead of at per cubic yard was a plunge in the dark, for no mortal inspector could gauge the amount of rock below the surface soil and therefore the work became a lottery. This mailer had certainly been aggravated by the local office allowing the plan to be carried on iv the face of petitions for a change. Twelve mouths before the inquiry a petition feigned by sixty men was sent to the Chief Surveyor with the result that reply was given that tho Inspector was instructed to make special allowances in cases where he had underestimated the amount of rock. Thus making confusion worse by placing more power iv the luspector's hands to grant extras as he thought fit. .And again, some months afterwards, petition' w&s made to the Minister of Labour, at the time of Mr McKay s visit. After the inouiry the mode of letting was changed to per cubic yard, but those who have not special training in red-tape cannot see why the reform should have required two petitions and a Court of Inquiry to effect. Then there were individual com plaints from men or trom gangs— as for instance, A. J. Smith's party on the Mohakau Road had suffered loss through having to do work over again because the Inspector made an error while using the A bney level . It was indeed a very simple matter to adjust, everyone makes mistakes, a few pounds was of importance to the men when earnings were low, they had made specially low wages on this road, averaging only 25s per week, and pay tucker out of that. '1 here was no question that at that period the inspector was learning to use the level. Mr Robinson admitted at the inquiry that he had shown 1 the inspector how to use the instrument. Yet the combined intelligence of the officials was directed to prove that one of the men moved the level pigs after the inspector had given the levels — deliberately moved them to confuse and upset the inspector's work, and that the man was perjuring himself. This was the music the men had to face— mind against matter.

Thpn there was the complaiut that some men made high wages, while the rest were reduced to the standard. M. Holden's party instanced where men made as much as twelve shillings a day. The pay-sheets were not produced at the inquiry, though probably examined in New Plymouth, but from the secrecy observed nothing is known as to the opinion of the Court. Then there was Thomas Davis' case, whose earniogs had been as low as 4s 6d a day and never higher than ss-4d. The officials explained that Davis was phjsically incapable of doing an average navvy s work — Cc-» operation was understood by its programme to specially provide for thtsa cases ; comment is hardly necessary. Then there were complaints such ns men having to travel long distance*, 14 miles for instance, on foot to get paid, but now adjusted satisfactorily, though the officials strongly objected to paying cash anywhere but in a well-built house — now payment is made at temporary .places erected for the purpose, and men have not to travel more than a couple of miles or so There were also inquired into sundry wild statements of the men that the officials did not care whether the men starved or not and had no sympathy with the scheme, Co-operation or Improved Farm Settlements — all very annoying to the officials, but solely the fruit of the absence of any means of quick and satisfactory appeals. ""~ In the next article we will refer to the present' state of the Co-operative Works on the Ohura Road and other places,and sum up, showing where reform might be effected so as to make the works really Co-operative.