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Timaru Herald, Volume LX, Issue 2690, 29 April 1898, Page 2

It is clear from a telegram which we publish this morning that the dispute between the Government and the co-operative bricklayers at the Parliamentary Buildings m Wellington is not settled, and, as far as appearances go, is not likely to be settled amicably. The telegram states that the bricklayers made an offer to complete the work " at current rates, on the co-opera-tive system," and to engage and pay the labourers, if the Government allowed them to select the additional bricklayers whom it would be necessary to take on m order to get the work finished m time. The offer was declined, and the work is practically at a stand-still. We notice that an article m the New Zealand Times, the Government organ m Wellington, commences with the following sentence : —" So far as can be judged from the outside point of view, the decision given by Mr Quick, chairman of the Conciliation Board, on the troubles of the bricklayers engaged on the additions to the Parliamentary Buildings is a very satisfactory one." Satisfactory to whom, we should like to know ? Surely not to the men, who have expressed themselves m the highest degree dissatisfied, and are showing their bona fides by standing aloof from the work. Nor can Mr Quick's award be satisfactory to the Government, for although he gave the men less than they asked (under his award their earnings fall far short of current wages m Wellington) he gave them more than the Public Works Department and the Premier had been willing to concede. The Premier must feel specially annoyed at the award, because m some re spects it traverses statements which had been made by him m the course of an interview, a report of which appeared last Saturday m the New Zealand Times. Amongst other things, the Premier said on that occasion: —" We [that is the Government or Public Works Department] are not responsible for the overcrowding on the work." But, says the chairman of the Conciliation Board, " the evidence goes to show that more men were put on the work than were necessary. They had not proper elbow room, and therefore couldn't put m as much labour as would enable them to do their best, and thus earn the standard wage. That a smaller number of men could have better done the work of the larger number employed. That by that reason their daily wage was much reduced. That unforeseen circumstances produced this result, but the Labour Department and the Public Works Department were responsible for it. —the men themselves having no power of appointment or dismissal." Again, the Premier and the Minister of Public Works had denied that the men were hindered m connection with the girders required m the buiding. But the chairman of the Conciliation Board says m his award : —" The men were stopped work through no fault of their own. The girders, etc., were not forthcoming to enable them to continue the bricklaying." On the whole, it is evident that the Government have made a shocking bungle of the affair. It is a thousand pities that they (or the Premier) did not rest satisfied with the expenditure of the £7000 authorized by Parliament for the erection of a new library, instead of commencing a huge work which will cost the

colony about £40,000. It is next to impossible that it can be completed before the meeting of Parliament, and even if the workmen are out of it by that time, much of it will have been scamped, and neither the brick-work nor the plaster will be thoroughly dry. In that state the new building will be a fine place m which to accommodate either library or legislators.