HARBOUR MATTERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12669, 3 May 1905, Page 4

HARBOUR MATTERS.

JBS'tne Editor! of:the ".TAnara Herald." :-* i&iif'jiriDZ as chanmion on behalf of. the Jeniplcyee* Harfctotfr Board's "qramKs; la£ife_ g.'«&fc" many more agitafor?;Jie spoke." without a full knowledge of fte,' subject, .desirous no doubt, to pose before the public' aa a' general ; benefactor. ~fJii the first place ae is quite wrong in coupling, the names of Messrs England and Tuinbull-witE that of Mr Hole as supportmg the request to.an increase of wages. At least I" presume;that is his meaning when he honours them by special mention of their names.; Judging from the re-' port of the last meeting of theVßoard in the "Hessl<fy" : Mr Hole'e motion to increase the;*aie by 6d per day was not even seconded, and&ad it been carried I do not think any lone would have been so. surprised as Mr Hole himself. Mr Hohnes-recommends a fixed wage of £2 2s per week (after allowing for wet weather which the Board are not responsible for).! - If he takes the trouble to workit pot, I think he will find Wat the amount earned is veir near that amount. Of course Mr' Holmes would like to be paid for the time he takes to go and come from his work—wet weather, holidays, and such like; but 'put'lrim in the position of employer, and how would he act? I think the ratepayers 'have reason to be thankful that they have members on the Harbour Board .who-look upon-the spending of public money as they would upon their own and act accordingly. Unfortunately- there are too many like Mr C. E. Holmes who are Tery liberaT with public funds.. J am., etc., . RATEPAYER. Sir,—Your- criticism of my ; - the above quests is equally as -volurriißous as my effusion. In dealing with your 1 leader ot to-day I-wi*fr*'first : to mention I hold npjirief for "tile'men working at the Harbour Board's quarry. I'am not aware that I have an. acquaintance of any one of them. I-«nt simply'reiving upon the accuracy or otherwise of your report of The proceedings >Of their last : meeting and- a feeling that rwhereTsxich' tf-'statet of exists a* de»c«ibed--Tegardnig the wages earned by metetfhat haveto work hard and nnder, as set-lorra; tery adverse conditions, deserves as much public discussion of a new dredge. With regard"*!) Mr Hole's acrobatic proclrrites thatis'sptjvfor me to discuss. His sentiment* expressed at last meeting were both humane and sympathetic, and would meet with a .general endorsement from all Harbour Board'ratepayers of oDe farthing in the pound,.: and-;frhb, -to carry out my wish of making the: Tn""n>nm daily wage i 7s per day \?rth--the' maximum 8s to do at present, "would mean 6s 9id minus 7s, equal to an- additional 2Jd per day. I don't think the ratepayers of the Timaru Harbour Board district would relegate any of its members to the limbo of political obscurity for this very moderate concession, and I am certain that if the men were paid on that basis better results would follow, as they wanld--rna.*e\ an interest in their work andrpnt fortli their best energies. What dread is the ap-proaching-wafer, ;with its attendant ad<n%nal expenses and the -probability J of flierr earning-power being still further reduced. -'-.--•--: One matter appears strange. The men aver in the prayer of their petition that their daily earnings- are 6s per day, whilst the engineer states 6s 9id. Who is correct? Presumably we must accept the latter. You state that so long ..as every block quarried is honestly there will be no blacfc page in the.history of the Board. Degrees of honesty are-variable and the castiron rn.e laid down-by you may appear palatable [ to many. -_ ■ There are other matters attendant upor the quarrying of the stone which require .-• s.ight consideration. Are not the men'ir= attendance to - do their dav's work after a five-mile walk eqnally as much there ir the the Board as in their own' private «™P!»Ter« : recognise this and usually give an jdlowahce for having fo attwl the scene of operations over a three-mi'e i£?i • , am ' n °fc.«onig- to bring in anv «ide issue fo escape the contention I take,

Jap, that men in any body's and-more par r "tfcttlariy a local body's employ amenable to 4<he taxpayers and performing work of an -arduous and skilled nature, should be worth more than 6s 9Jd a day. Men with families cannot live upon it, and pay the heavy house rente that predominate in Timaru, and will continue to do so until a different mode of municipal taxation prevails. The Christchurch papers yon refer to I have read. Thev only represent the views of a couple of discontented workmen out of manv hundreds engaged upon Government co-operative works, which have stood the test of the last twelve years. If there are anv errors or mistakes it is not the Premier's fault as it is usually left to the calculation of the engineer upon the works and when mistakes arise they are promptly rectified.. The Premier can champion himself. Sufficient to say that the frothy talk vou instance usually contains- a greater amount of solid sediment than 3s 6d per day for labourers mairied, and 2s 6d per day to single men—the current rate under the Conservatice regime. Otberwisethe present co-operative system, if it were not more beneficial to the working classes, would not now have been in existence. I realise that the Board are the trustees of those who pay the piper. Yet past experience proves, especially when yon con-; eider the recklessness during the .past, that: they are straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. • I am, etc. C. E. EOLMES.