SHOUTS AND BOOS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20541, 16 February 1935, Page 18

SHOUTS AND BOOS.

Relief Workers Criticise Sandilands. OFFICER COUNTED OUT. Disorder ran rife at a meeting of registered unemployed yesterday afternoon. when the men made a spirited attack against the R.S.A. for allegedly “ slave-driving ” relief workers on the Sandilands job. Two hundred men attended, and for most of the time applauded loudly or shouted their disapproval. The meeting was declared closed by the president of the R.S.A. (the Rev F. T. Read) after a v.ice-presidenk Mr T. L. Drummond, had been coimted out. The meeting had been called at the request of men employed on, or recently discharged from, the Sandilands job, the purpose being to discuss their grievances. Not only were complaints concerning the discharging of a number of men .fully aired, but at times subjects as remote as the cost of administration of the Canteen Funds were earnestly debated. From the outset, there was a spirit of hostility to Mr Drummond and this was not in any way mitigated when he made it clear that he believed that the men at Sandilands had not worked as hard as they could have done. It was his final declaration that the work at Sandilands had been speeded up because of the attitude of the public of t'hristchurch and the Unemployment Board that brought about a crisis, the count of ten being given lustily for the vice-president. Declared Closed. “There is only one rule for me now,” announced the chairman in a restrained manner as the count was repeated, “that is for me to declare this meeting closed.” It was certain from the time the meeting started that quietness would not be the predominating feature. The delegate from the Sandilands job (Mr J. Gray) declared that the “ nigger-driving ” which had developed there had really come from the executive of the R.S.A. ' “What a scandal,” came from a score of voices. “And I want to know by what authority did Mr Drummond go down and see what time the men knocked off and then go to the City Council Chambers and tell them there that the men had knocked off early?” was Mr Gray’s next remark. “This job is not one bit worse than any other relief job in Christchurch.” Hostility Shown. Later the attack was turned on to Mr Drummond. One man wanted to know why it was that at a public meeting Mr Drummond had said that there were 33 men prepared to go and live in the Sandilands cottages, while recently, the secretary of the association had said that there were only three applicants. He wanted to know who was wrong. Later, the question as to who ordered the B2 (medically unfit) men off the job was raised. B2 Men’s Fate. It was very late in the meeting before Mr Drummond was able to get a hearing and he it clear at the outset that he was not going to brook interruption. He pointed out that when the B2 men were put on to sustenance by order of the Unemployment Board, it was the executive of the R.S.A. that persuaded the board to let the returned soldiers classed as B2 carry on with their work. “It is well known that at Sandilands the work has been brought down to the B2 standard,” he added. “Yet you come here and condemn us body and soul. Within the last fourteen days, two of the heads of the Unemployment Board have been here and they state that when they went to Sandilands not 50 per cent of the men were working. That is not hearsay; it is the opinion of officers of the Unemployment Board. “When I called on the Unemployment Board in Wellington recently,” added Mr Drummond, “I was met with a barrage of questions regarding the disgraceful - state of affairs at Sandilands. I will not contend that it is worse than other jobs. I live near one and I don’t think things could be worse at Sandilands than on that one. I have made several visits out there and I have not, at any time, seen more than 50 per cent of the men working.” The next complaint heard was concerning the pay the men lost through stopping work on Monday morning. Mr Drummond: This executive has no authority with the City Council or the Unemployment Board. A member: But what has been done? Mr Drummond: Nothing. Explaining why he went to Sandilands one afternoon this week at 3.50 p.m., Mr Drummond said that he arrived there at that time purely by accident. He reported that the men had left early solely because there was a new foreman there and he wanted to see the fair thing done by everyone. Bitterness was shown by some members of the audience in their complaint that the information from the Commissioner of Employment that the Sandilands job was costing £947 an acre had been “rushed into print” by the executive of the R.S.A. Loud boos and yells greeted Mr Drummond’s answer: “To correct the public impression; to show them that this job is not being run by the executive of the R.S.A.”