HARBOUR MATTERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12668, 2 May 1905, Page 4

HARBOUR MATTERS.

' QUARRYMKPS WAGES. To the Editor of the "Timaru Herald." > Sir, —Li' your . report of the proceedings of the last Harbour Board meeting, a petifiou signed by 42 quajrymen asking for an increase of pay from eight to nine shil-.j lings was cursorily discussed and no action " taken although it .was proved that for the past twelve months their average earnings were 6s 9Jd per day. In reading the import I noticed, a Hotter which did not come op property to the surface of the discussion and which probably was the crux of. the whole question/ This was the men having to walk- five''miles to their work, and" make the .necessary preparations at home for "a day's work' in providing themselves with the nefiesary food for a day's absence from home.- All this is counted nothing in the mind of a majority of the Board, and -wberi arriving at the scene of toil to be told there is no work fbr that day. How can men treated in that fashion pnt forth their best energies for their employers, and a spirjt- of energy and stimulation is requisite for the successful issne of all work, both pnblic and private. We are given to boasting of the success of our Jbarbour works and point to their great jitility to all who visit our port with feelings of pride. "Yet we fail to give those who are the basis and principal factors in their success a living wage for. themselves and their families to eke out an existence. It- ic a vainglorious boast indeed to say that labour during construction only cost 6s 9£d per day. It'reminds me of some lines of Hood the Epe.tJ 1 — "Oh.God, that bread-should be so dear And flesh and blood so cheap." When the history of the lharbour works construction, is written the black page of it wiQ be the price paid for.labour (the main factor of it) 6s 9W per day. Only recently we heard of the-.Premier denouncing the old Conservative regime of the past in paying low. wages to the working men of the colony. It appears to me the majority of the. Board are imbued with similarly conservative views. I will except Messrs Hole, Angland, and Turnbull' from the category. . If good wages are paid, good results will inevitably follow, and we want that-spirit of energy and enterprise put into" the work that existed-w&en Mr Bradley was foreman of works, land Mr Wm. Evans chairman. As Mr Hole justly remarked the Jioard want to. get" down as much stone as possible, and the work carried out expeditiously. I have ha<l. opportunities of noting how quarries are and can. be worked on the'-West Coast, notably at Greymouth and Cape« Foul wind, and I-venture' to assert with the increased rainfall that, predominates there less tune is" lost than in our more highly-favoured climate of South Canterbury. ll Work i*. stores, away, from the state of the weather and quarrying work are not "analogous, neitheria faim work,'where in each instance less is experienced and no skfll reqxiired. '.And, further, there appears good ground for .complaint,, mien me* have done a full five mile walk, and have considered the prospects of fine weather warrant being allowed, to perfoinr a day's work. .Greater and larger blocks of stone, are handled from steejfer faces than we have, in the Cobden quarry at Greymouth in almost any weatner, and the records prove of only one accident in the. bst» 3ft years. _ ... j As a panacea, for the disabilities the men are labouring under I would suggest payring ' a minimum wage of 7s 6d per day, j wet or dry,, to be on the work and good management will pri>ve that it wi'l be combining economy with .efficiency. As, an alternates if the !f<a regoing is not adopted remove the power 'from apy one individual t~i f be sole' arbiter as to the men shall work or--not,;. Tailing 'either of these two suggestions,, approach tlje member for Timaru, or'eZse'some member of the Labour Party in Parliament and . ask them to put a short amendment fo .the..(ffmarn Harbour District and Harbourßoard Act of one i clause fixing the minimum weekly , wage at £2 2s during, the present Parliament in its wisdom" fix«d . a minimum weekly wage for bpys and girls; let .the. same- be done for jthi'e quanvmen. If the forty-two men would" unite and be loyal to' one another, and . form a quarryman's onion, that would remove the cause of complaint that. aD. too unfortunately exists. Six of them Can do" it. but without all uniting they would be made scapegoats of. I am, etc.. C- E- HQLMES.

THE DREDGING QUl^TipX. To the" Editor of tEe "Timarn Herald." Sir,—ln your leader . this morning re harbour matters, you take advantage of the invitation of the chairman, that the public discuss the position.' : First, as to the'present dredge having outlived herusefulness, any. one strolling, down the Moody wharf du.r>ug. the last f4w days would have seen her| the dredge, lifting . spoil at a pace that could have been i costing only a few pence per ton, and tkere are'acres of the harbour bottom where she would do equally good work. in . the change's leading to the berths she does not make much headway as sbe'bas to contend with a. "close, sticky clay; and I venture to say., that a £30,000 nwKiple bucket dredge would not break; any records In the same class of stuff. . .

Have there ever been any systematic experiments made with dynamite to break np the hardest parfs of the harbour bottom, the dredges getting at once on to the broken up. ground, before the action of the water had .nettled it down again? I think fair work could J)& doije. in that way,; and the working- expanses would be very little more than the interest on the -3jQ s OOO pounder. With regard to getting berthage for ships of larger ton^ge^than,-at .pre.«enhi; there are dozens of' Vis the "Kumars, Morayshire, Tongariro, .eff.j .catering for onr custom, and it fcic percentage of them do not leave NJS. fnll sh'.ps.': It would look all ricrht to see. r t}ie Corintliic and say the Cedric. tied no to one of onr wharves, but wou'd the advantage gained I balance the expense required to get them there at present? There is also the opinion of a, tried, : trusted professional mail (Mr Maxwell) criven a few months ago, that it was not advisable to co to great ernewe uitil the completion of the er-stern mole showed what effect it had on the entpnce, I have seen the import*? and exports of Tiimrn sliding np and (?own the shiro-le tn creasy skifl.«. - and if I live ""Pother *we"*v vears T nm T see *»er at the .too <"'f f!]P nnll. Tmtb : with eTPortw ">nd import*: h'if (hat time will u«t come icy «ooner by n"Tiincr "Jong too fast. T »m. efn.. M AKE HASTE RT.OWT.Y.