The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1905. QUARRYMEN'S WAGES.

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

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1905. QUARRYMEN'S WAGES.

Mr Holmes, who has iavourcd us with a ratlier voluminous letter'. adversely criticis-tog-'the"' refusal of tie "'Harbour Board to • acofjde-to their quarrymen's request for an increase 'Of :wages, bases his arguments on : a tb'tal'misajpprehensianof the Board's functfie>atter. J" He should remember that" the-Bo&ri are "merely the trustees of public money nV-hicb. has to .be expended On i specific undertaking to the best ad-, vantage- and that they are not the trustees of a benevolent fund, to be doled out for ihe rdief of the. recipients. We do not mean to say that the work should riot be adequately remunerated, but we say that the Board, in the interests of the ratepayers who are guaranteeing the interest on the loans spent on the construction of the mole, are bound to see that a proper Tetum is obtained for every penny spent. As far as the wages in the quarry are concerned, we do not see how this return can be obtained except on the basis of payment by the- hour. By that system, the Board pay for all the work done in their quarry, but they pay for no more. It would, no doubt, be more -satisfactory • to them if the quarrying could. be carried ton continuously, without interruption by .rain or any other cause. They would then get their mole completed -in shorter lime than is possible while rain will fall, ibut they Would save nothing in. wages by itjie saving in time. The only difference •would be that the quarrymen would, earn I'the total amount which the quarrying is [to cost, in shorter time, and their average 1 earnings, calculated by the week or by the day, would i>e greater than the present average. But their hourly earnings would still be one shilling, and for that one shilling the Soard would get the same amount done as they should be getting now. . It is unfortunate for -all concerned—for the Board and for the men—that interruptions axe unavoidable, but it is not for 'the members of the Board to be generous with ■.money which .does not- belong to them/.by paying a -fixed wage, as Mr Holmes sugigests, whether the men"are working or not. If Messrs Hole,: Aiigland, and Tiirnbull, whom our correspondent has :honoui;ed -.with his approval, were working a quarry of their own, and paying the wages out of their oyrn pockets, they would do as .they pleased. We . should soon see then whether there was much disposition . to pay half a hundred, of men for standing about idle. Of course, if the question is raised whether a shilling an hour is enough for quarrying, when a man is actually work--1 ing, that is a different .flatter. We do not to be experts in quarrying, and,we can only take the opinion of men who Jiave experience in thei wages' paid- ' for this class of labour. At last meeting of the Board;-.the opinion of the majority of the members was that a shilling, an i hour was a fair rate of pay. Curiously enough that was the opinion of Mr Hole, 1 too, eighteen months ago. In our issue of November 28th, 1903, we find in our report of a meeting of the Haubour Board that 43 quarrymen had app-ied for and were refused, an increase of a shilling a day. To quote our report, "Mr Hole said-they were paying top wages cow." The wages were the same then as they are 'snow, and w# jy?e therefore at a loss to understand Mr Hole's change of front in the - matter. Consistency, however, is, we-fear, ■ • not Mr Hole's, strong ' point. He has .executed Some wonderful somersaults on the Harbour Board, of which we shall remind the public if nee<J be, and we . should I not advise: Mr; Holmes, or any of the quarrymen, to jplaxie too much reliance on 1 his champioasMp of their claims. "As for his desire to have, stone brought down expeditiously, -the sentiment is unexceptionable, buf< we-trust he will not use his p.osition om the Board to advocate payment for stone that- is not brought down. -So long as every block .that is quarried is honestly paid for, there will be no "black page" in ithe jiistory of the harbour works, but there jyiU .be a black page in the history of any mem'ber who courts cheap ■ popularity by spending the n\oney of the 1 public without seeing that th.ey get value in return." If to follow this .principle , means to be stigniatis'ed as conservative, "then We hope/that, the country members | of the Board, Vgainst whom Mr Holmes jjy innuendo raises tha.t dreadful bogey, Krillcontinuein,their/ conservatism. Let Mr Holmes compare the lot of the Board's | quarrymen with, tliat of the co-operative, j labourers m Government employment. In sjiite <ef all the' Premier's denunciations of the nild -Conservative Tegime, how many of j his co-operative labourers average 6s 9id for every .working day in the year? i Let it be igtaembered that the 6s 9id • is the average pay, not for each day actui ally worked, but for each day on which ; the men might have worked —-that is, for j the whole year Sundays and holi-. days. Let Mr SLtflmes .read the recent complaints in the Christclnurcli papers of men .who iliave returned from the railway works in North Canterbury, and he will 1 soon see who..is; tlie better employer—the 1 Premier witli all. his" frothy talk about tb-e | Conservatives and - their low wages, or the | Harbour Board which pays a shilling an | hour, and only wants an hour's work in ( return for the shilling. Any member of .- She Board whp wants to pay away the Ratepayers' money for nothing will have his account to settle with the public when he comes before them for re-election.