A COMPLAINT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 323, 9 October 1908, Page 8

A COMPLAINT.

ALLEGED "RAGGING". IN THE CARSHEDS. ■ • Somewhere betweenthe harmless but aggravating practice ; of practical joking, and the more serious and very reprehensible custom .of ragging/' there is-a line of demarcation to be drawn—where, it is not easy to say. This problem presented itself for solution at the last meeting of the Tramways Committeo of 'the; City-Council/ when; Mr.,.H. Worthington, formerly, employed as a' fitter,in the car-sheds,,lodged' a charge' of "ragging" against certain of his former fellow' workers. The charge embodied a number of annoyances, in at least one of:which personal violanco was alleged.;;„ r ',,j, . . ~T "On ,one, occasion," r stated .the victim, I had wort to'do af'th'e 'Vertical'; I had-set and made fast'the machine on the table and had bolted it 'up'"ready ;to drill. Before using, I had to'.go : into'.the smith's shop to grind my drill, and when I came back I found that - : had slacked .off the work and pitched it down on-to. the floor. The storekeeper" was'at'tho' tirnV'stariding at the door of the store, "and saw — do this. He told him that I had set-the work, and had only gone away to''sharpen my drill;, but nevertheless he did as above described. When I came back I-asked him what made him slack off: my work}-he gave mo a shove and told me to clear" to out of it. I took hold, of the machine, and told him I was' determined to' finish my job. He then seized mo by the throat and tried to- choke me off, but after a. struggle of some minutes someone called out to i him to desist, and he did so. I was quite . exhausted by the strugA complaint, was lodged, and an investigation held. , Further, proceedings, however, were averted* by''the**two men being prevailed'* upon: to ■ shake> .hands. Since then Worthington .'alleged :that he ha;d been tho subject of annoying 'attentions from the men. His vico, he said, was-daubed with grease and filth, dead '-rats .and sparrows put into his pockets,, and.so' on,. • " The' t'Tramwa-ys Committee, after hearing the facts; decided-.* tai take 110 action.

,The,':o.ti;cri Side,

His "Worship the Mayor (Hon. T."W. Hislop) was iriWvieweri by''a representative of The Dominion yesterday,- and asked for a statement of , the position. Mr. Hislop did not regard 1 , the-matter ; in. a'serious light. • "Tlio whole" trouble .'is out-of-date," he said.' r ' "These"'.things" happened eighteen months' ago.'' If (continued the Mayor) the man ha d'A complaint'to make he should have done s'o at th'o'time?'" He'added that when a reduction of the hands at 'the . sheds'was made, the man : was 0110 of those told off. Hence, : very probably,tho charge of "ragging." ... . , ' Mr'i M. Cable, assistant electrical engineer/ridiculed the idea, of "ragging." Tho man's mannor brought him into conflict with his fellow-workers, who , played a. few practicar jokes on him. So'far as the "greasy and filthy vice" ' was concerned, Mr. Caljle said that-no man at'the sheds had the exclusive uso of,a,vice. .This particular one was frequently used by, the night-shift men.