STATE WORKSHOPS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 470, 31 March 1909, Page 9

STATE WORKSHOPS.

' ——•« ADDINGTON INQUIRY CLOSED. BOTH SIDES ADDRESS THE BOARD. ; HATE AND COST OF OUTPUT. Cm TELEGBATJI— I'KES9 ASSOCIATION.) Chrlstciuircn, March 30. '. The Addington Workshops inquiry was re sumed to-day,- all the members of the boarc being present. Roplying to further, questions put by th< chairman (Professor Scott), Mr. A. L Boattie, chief mechanical engineer, stated that patterns for new work were charged t< . tho job. Thoso for general repairing use vcre charged against shop commission. The Government mado no, contribution to tilt superannuation, fund, but guaranteed any de ficiency. So far the.fund had been selfsupporting. All workshops salaries and wages, except thoso of district officers, were • charged against workshops commission. In certain cases now machinery was charged against capital—that is, tho capital account of working railways—but quite'a number of lessor appliances wero charged against workshop commission account. As to depreciation of machinery, there wap. no depreciation .'fund. Everything was maintained and the cost of maintenance ttos charged against • workshops commission. So far as he was aware, thero was'no insurauco on tho plant and buildings. MR. HAMPTON FOR THE MEN. Mr, Hampton, the representative of tho employees, then addressed the board. Ho sjld that ho was pleased that his duties had -, been very light., No attempt had been mado by Mr. Ronayne, or by his informant, to ' prove or substantiate in any way the charges which wore made in the famous memo. On tho contrary, Mr. Ronayne had now practically unreservedly withdrawn those charges, and his informant, whom they had reason to believe was the Hon. J. E. Jenkinson, had also mado. no attempt to substantiate or prove anything against the men at Addington. ' Efficiency of plant. Regarding-the efficiency of tho plant and appliance's .he had noticed that the board had closoly, questioned various witnesses. He liad no doubt that the board's recommendations would be in accordance with the evidence and also in accordance with observations made at tho workshops.by. the board. ; One Injustice to the Men. As to the system of-work adopted, ho de- ' sired,to point out an injustice dono to the men in connection with "holiday rushes." Tho men, especially those in the fitting department, wore called upon to work overtime at ordinary rates. This caused a great deal of dissatisfaction, and it was considered 'only fair that they should be paid overtime, . . specially as it was not their fault that they had to bo sent homo for .the holidays which followed these rushes. He hoped that-the commission would make such-a-recommenda-tion as would cause some alteration of the system, and result in l somo measure of justice to the workmen. ] ' Discipline. He dealt at some length with the evidence given regarding the discipline maintained at the workshops, and contended that it was in favour of the men. - The allegation against them was that.of the Hon. J. E. Jenkinson, -and it was' only hearsay. On this point he thought that the board would find that the men had been completely vindicated. Ho hoped thai tho board.would make that fact clear and emphatic, because he noticed of tho newspaper press, especially tho country newspapers, had mado statements to tho effect that Mr. Ronavno had withdrawn his charges under, political compulsion. .They' had further • stated • that there /was no doubt'that the'charges were perfectly true. He therefore hoped that the board would make it clear that:the charges had not been proved in order to dispose of the accusation for, all time. " •Cost of- Construction. ... As to cost of construction at Addington, if the board carefully considered tho tabulated statement and returns, he had little doubt that their finding would be in favour of the Addington. Workshops..' .... pealing with'-the-'.question, of whether the output. was reasonable in quality and quan- , tity, he referred to tho fact that repair work and new work were done in one shop, and that men were taken awav from new work to do repair work. This was a great disad.yantago. -He also referred to the disadvantage 'under which Addington Workshops laboured m respect to preference -which appeared to be given to Price Bros, in getting work off for them: The evidence as to the , quality of tho work was, he contended, in tno direction of showing that it was unsurpassed. Mr Ronayne,' after returning from ■ America and England, had stated that Addington Workshops could hold their own with .any shop in the world.

Mattors Calling for Alteration. Under.the head of "matters calling for alteration or improvement in the interests Dt .efficiency or discipline," he urged tho board w make a recommendation that men Buonld be encouraged to .bring out n»w devices and inventions, and - commented en the cngtny process at present in vogue bv which .recognition of enterprise was unduly delayed He, t,ought that a man who had invented'a.devico.should bo allowed to take out a provisional patent, the man to pay tho necessary fee. He also brought under the board's notice the desirability of a "sug ™ tion box" being provided, as is dono in iomo works in America. .In this the men could post any suggestions. Ho also made a S?,l"T? S ' U i" g forth that tho It d' smissJlls men should not be

Inquiry Should Mover, Have Been Held. Concluding, ho said that it would be to and thr St TV f •?'? men - «"> Department nnlri I?""! 2 ,f , futm '° statements of a iinWrt"-* 0 ■ hOSB Whioh llatl been U '« de" r L J'TTry' ry w«re.accepted with some S?M f Hi' 1 " should b o investigated before they ~vero sent broadcast to ad bl,C , to ., talk about - If that course had boon followed the present inquiry would SJ™/*' Jjeld." He believed tlaono result of the inquiry would bo that improved tnom to make Addington Workshops "the loading workshops in the Dominion. MR. BEATTIE'S'ADDRESS. Mr. Beattio, in his address, said he proposed to summarise certain remarks'on the evidence before the board. As to theT sufficiency of plant and appliances he said that ?I "?mft V b , e ? I,no clliof -mechanical'engineer in WOO Addington, Workshops 'had been sup#K ,th *>{* .;T ! machinery valued it ' P-i'nnJln bu ' !dlng addltion s valued at over £10,000, or a total- of nearly £41 000 m nine years It had been fully recognised that the plant and accommodation were insnmcionf for the rapidly-growing work, and the matter had been discussed with tho general manager. The funds available wore oxponded to the best advantage of all the railway workshops, for it should bo remembered that additional plant was needed in other workshops besides Addington. Tho largo outlay involved had so far precluded tho adoption of, electrification generally. The schomo for the electrification of tho over-i°-mr. Cl '? n ? ) Vtls ' in 1(JW > estimated to cost £0000, but the outlay had to bo postponed, no'funds ucing available. For tho overhead gantry • above tho new riveter a 20 0001b pneumatic portable hoist was on order, and necessary alterations to the foundry buildings had ken authorised to admit of a suitrri° P n S«niatic hoist being used for all heavy Wis. Ibis work was about to be carried' l Speed of Work. Referring to the-Hon. Mr. Jenkinson's statement that less than 100 rivets per day were got out of the now .hydraulic, riveter, he stated that tho machine put in in some parts of the boiler over one. rivet per minute, but, in more awkward parts, it was necessarily much slower. Taking tho riveting of tho.whole of an "X" class boiler with the present, hand gear, the averago per da)

was 200 rivets. "With tlio pneumatic lioistiiij gear tho rate would be very materially increased. The plate-bending rolls at Addington mcl all ordinary requirements. It was not considored necessary to import a special set o! rolls for curving tho light seven-eighths coinplates, as it was known that bonding could bo. dono in_ a ; privato.. foundry, Tho Hon. lur. Jenkinson's evidence generally regarding j iho machinery al Addington appeared to have been based 01 insufficient information. Although some of tho machinery was old and not up to date, it was still serviceable, and was doing useful work. Though desirablo to replace old by new machinery, tho' cost of doing so would 'bo very considerable, and would, in somo instances, bo hardly warranted, as the funds "were allocated. ' ; Additional steam hammers and other tools would bo provided in the blacksmith - and boiler shops. Hydraulic flanging plant was not essential at present,'jas the maximum number of now boilers mado eacli year for the railways did not exceed about twenty, and tho flanging of about 100 plates would only occupy a costly plant for a very small proportion of tho year. Practically all the machines doing heavy -work were equipped with pneumatic-hoists. Regarding tho maintenance of discipline, ho thought that the commissioners had evidence before them that was conclusive on that point. The allegations mado to Jlr. Ronayno, and embodied in la letter which Mr. Ronayno had directed should bo sent on to Addington for searching .investigation, wero, ho submitted, unwarranted,' and had not been substantiated. Cost of Work at Addington. Regarding tho comparative cost of tho work dono at Addington and at other shops, he said that tho now design of double-ended suburban tank engines, class; "W.F.," had cost £3018 each at Addington, . ono being made at tho time at Hillside.. Six engines of the same class vcro laid dawn in sets of threo and were built under more favourable circumstances, at a cost of £2032 each. Messrs. Prico Bros, built ten of theso engines later at a cost of £2940 each. Later, the same firm built two of the same class of engines for the Public "Works Department at a cost of £3000 each. At Addington, four Class "A" four cylinder-balanced compound engines wcro ordered—a trial lot of now design. The cost.of these engines (including cost of patterns and templates) was £5522. Three.engines of a similar class of modified design, which wero built' singly, cost £-1950 .each.- Prico Bros, built'.twenty of a modified class, their contract prico being .£3998, which, with the cost of the Westinghouse brakes, etc., added, brought the total cost to £4228 each. Prico Bros, "worked under more favourable conditions than at Addington, as they were able to carry out the work in sets. Deducting the cost of commission or profit charged against the Addington Class "A", engines, their net cost, ready for service, would be £4310, which was very little more.than tho cost of those built under contract. Messrs. Price Bros, had delivered twelve out of twenty engines, and, though exact figures would not bo available before tho completion of the contract, Mr. Beattio had their authority-for stating that the contract rate per engine was much too low, and they considered that £4000 would be a fair rate per engine, with additional cost added for "Westinghouse brake, etc. The engines would then cost £4830, which was fairly close to Addington cost. Concluding, Mr. Beattie said that the new work was not allowed to interfere with the thoroughly efficient tip-keep of the rolling stock generally. This frequently interfered with tho progress of now work, and unquestionably, added to the cost. Taking into consideration tho manifest inconveniences inseparable from carrying on both new and repair work under the 'samo roof, and using the same machinery and appliances,. ho submitted that the output was reasonable in quantity and unquestionably .of tho' best quality. Mr. Beattio then put in several returns, and expressed, on behalf of: himself andthe officers ho represented, their appreciation of the very, courteous. and., thorough manner in which tho board bad conducted tho inquiry. The chairman, stated that this, would conclude tho public portion o£ : thc inquiry. Tho board had now to consider the remainder of the ovidence before tlioy reported to the Minister; ■Onrbehalf of .the. board, ho • desired to. thank tho representatives of the officers and of the men for tho. manner in which they had condxicted-their portion of the work. The board also desired to thank tho witnesses for the information given by them. ' ,•:' '.'

Tho proceedings then terminated. MR. RONAYNE ON PATENTS. A SPARK ARRESTER. • tBY TELEGItAm—I'ItESS ASSOCIATION.) Christchurch, March 30. At tho Addington workshops inquiry, Mr. T. Ronayne, General Manager of the Govonimont Railways, stated that some yean ago a statement got into-the English newspapers . that ■ tho • Now Zealand Government was offering £3000 for an efficient spark ar- . roster. Soon after the statement appeared tho Government were flooded with designs of a crude and impossible nature. After the numerous inventors had heeii replied to, tho flood of desisns subsided. '