BUILDERS & PREMIER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1541, 10 September 1912, Page 8

BUILDERS & PREMIER.

A DEPUTATION. HEN'ACT AND OTHER'MATTERS. Amendments to the Contractors and Workmen's Lion Act and the retention of the Arbitration Act and Court iu their present form were among tho more important requests put forward by a deputation from the -New Zealand. Builders' Federation, which was introduced to the iron. W. I'. Jlnssey, as Minister for Labour, and tlio lion. W.'Fraser, Minister for Public Works, by tho Hon. A. L. Herdman yesterday. Mr. W. 11. Bennett, chairman of tho local executive committee of the federation, was the principal speaker. He said that, his federation did not believe that tlio country should be governed by deputations, but some of the matters now to be brought forward had been in the hands of tho executive for tw<v years, awaiting a settled condition of political affairs. Tho first matter to be mentioned was in connection with the Lien Act. Main contractors were responsible,'under this Act, to their sub-contractors,'to their own em.ployees, and to the employees of subcontractors, to the extent.of 25 per cent, of the contact. Hitherto, contractors had believed that they were only responsible to the employees' of sub-contractors to tho extent of 25 per cent, on the sub-contract, and in a case recently taken to the District Court at Wanganui this view had been upheld. "An appeal was lodged, however, and in the Supreme Court Judge Cooper ruled that contractors were liablo to the , employees of sub-contractors Jo the extent of 25 per cent, on (ho main contract. The federation considered that this ruling would lead to collusion between unprincipled sub-contractors and their employees. Contractors had no proof other than the wages-book that men had been paid from week to week. The Lien Act should be so amended as to protect contractors. It should either be provided that the worker should be entitled to a charge on any moneys payable to the contractor orsub-contractor by whom he was employed, or, in the alternative, that claims' bv employees rcf sub-contractors should be limited to 25 per cent, of the amount of the /sub-contract, unless _ the main contractor was notified in'writing' within 14 days of the debt or wages being incurred or becoming payable. Another request advanced by Mr. Bennett was that a contractor .should be given the first lieu on land which he had permanently improved, to the extent of the improvement; in other words, that the "mortgagee should become automatically a party to the contract. At present a contractor who built a warehouse or a dwelling on a section of land for n proprietor who 'had not sufficient money to finish the work was helpless to recover the amount due to him unless he sold up the property—and contractors often had not enough capital to do this-or took a second mortgage which usually was valueless to a contractor. Mr Massev: Would : it, not be possible to get over "that' difficulty, by arranging with the mortgage? '■' .' • .'■" : Mr. Bennett: Under the present law, which makes, the, mortgagee .exempt, you would never get the mortgagee to do it. He added'that a case had cccuncd in. Wellington in which a contractor erected a building for a syndicate, which found itself short by .£IOOO of the amount necessary' to complete the contract. -In this, event ' the contractor had to wait two years for his money. ~,'■■,'■ Mr. Herdmau: Ton would have a lien for the amount subject to the first mortgiMr. Bennett: That is practically useless for' our purpose. Present Arbitration Law Supported.

In reference- to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, Mr. Bennett continued, it was decided by his executive to support tho Act and the constitution of the Court as they now stood. He would at once admit that'they had gone- back eomewhat on the expression opinion pivenbj- the federation some time asu. Tho federation, then favoured the expert idea that the Government intended to embody in their proposed amendments during this session. The federation viewed with alarm these proposed alterations. They were working as builders and contractors, under anything from 8 to 11 awards, and it was ;very difficult to get these awards to fit in with one another so as to prevent clashing in regard to holidays, hours of labour, and general conditions of work. They fear-ed that if the proposals of the Government were carried, and the various Judges sat as chairmen in their own districts, and experts were appointed in each district, the unanimitv of awnrds which had to some extent been obtained at present would utU-rly fail, and things would drift back to _ the old conditions under which tho conditions of labour in two districts were entirely different. . Mr. Massey: I think it might be as well for you to wait until you get the Bill. "You will set it in a few days; it will go to the labour Bills Committee, and you will have an opportunity 6f giving evidence. Mr. Bennett thanked tho Prime < Minister for the information, and said that be would say no more'on the subject than that a certain recent deputation had taken Judge Sim very strongly to task for striking out a certain 'agreement. They held that it was this very position that was the strength of the Judge, as chairman. Where agreements were made they often crossed one another through parties seeking to make such an agreement as would suit their own particular interests, but when such an agreement came before the Judge to b emade into an award, if ho saw that it would act harshly on another set of employers, in justice to hiniedf he stopped that agreement, ihe furniture- workers' deputation had spoken about uicture-ffamers being excluded from the cabinetmakers' award. Why should a joiner or a painter bo prevented from making a picture frame? Again, if a boy receiving 10s. or 15s. per week could ''make a,picture, frame as well as a man receiving Is. 4(17 an hour, why should he not be allowed to do it, and the public be permitted to reap the advantage? It ' was only an economic waste that men should 'be paid high wages for making things like picture frames when it was admitted that tho work could be done by lads.

Registration of Plumbers. The Auckland Builders, in particular, Mr. Bennett stated, were very much opposed to plunibere' registration. It was considered inadvisable to register a branch of the trade while the chief contractors were unregistered. Builders considered that examinations by technical school boards should bo brought into line so that a candidate having once passed should be recognised as competent in the whole of the municipalities and boroughs. Mr. Massey: What obout a Dominion registration fee for the plumbers' instead of a registration fee charged, by each local body? That seems to be their principal grievance. Mr. Bennett said that builders recognised that plumbers had a grievance in being required to pay o registration fee to each of the municipal bodies. Builders were quite at one with them in believing that one registration should cover the whole Dominion. What they objected to was the proposal that control-of plumbing and sanitary work should be transferred from the local bodies to the Government. When the Plumbers' Registration Bill come before: the Labour Bills Committee soyeral Auckland builders would tender evidence. Mr. Massey said that the committee would be glad to have all the evidence available. Freights on Hardwood. The freight on hardwood timbers was another subject, mentioned by Mr. Bennett. He said that in the South Island totara was almost unobtainable, and for work in contracts with water, jarrah and other imported hardwoods were very largely used. A duty was charged on these timbers, and in, addition builders had to pay higher freights than on local timber. This was a serious disability, and they considered that freights at least should be reduced. Governmsiit Contracts. In connection with Government rontract?, t'ucli tenderer had to tiiul two bondsmen. Builders had to go to merchants to get I hem lo act us bondsmen. This meant Hint they were tied down to deal with these merchants. It should suffice- if (he two lowes.t tenderers found homlsinen, and they should he given .--even days in which to dr. il. Also, builders , should not be required to fill in priw whe-a tcudeitus. but onJj. ii

their tenders were accepted. They should bo allowed to tender in a lump sum. Another grievance in connection with Government contracts was that the. deposits of unsuccessful tenderers woro unnecessarily detained. Day Work Condemned. In reference to tho recent agitation in favour of day labour work, tho Federation found that the most economical work was doiio by the contract system. Experience proved that thero had been very lew extras in Government contract's carried out. in this district. If there wore any extras it was not the fault of 1.119 builders, but. of those who drew the plans. When the work was done by day labour, .there was a. temptation to vary Hie plans after the work had been started. Day work was the most expensive thing that this country could go iiufor. He had atlemlod a builders' conference nt Sydney, when the late Minister for Public Works in that State was interviewed on the subject of day work. Tho Minister stated that he had tried both systems, and had come to tho conclusion that the contract system was tho best for Government works, and was the proper system for the country to adopt. It was impossible to get enough good men as overseers to look after Government: work under tho day work system, and there was so much patronage by those in power in the distribution of employment that the Governmpnt did not get good value for its money. Mr. J. Trevor said that if thero was to be any alteration of the Lien Act, the provision under which thirty per cent, of tho contract price was kept back for a period should be amended. To observe this condition, in contracting to erect 11 large building a man needed to • have a, considerable, amount of capital. This provision was no doubt intended to meet the case of small contractors—bush contractors and jerry builders—but in the case of largo buildings it should be sufficient to retain two or throe • thousand pounds.

Prime Minister in Reply. Mr. Massey, in replying, said that some of the points raised were technical, and ho could not reply upon them until ho had compared the proposed alterations with the existing law. This referred more particularly to the Lien Act. The Arbitration Bill had been finally revised, and was done with until it came before the House, which it would do on Wednesday or on Thursday at latest. The Plumbers' Registration Bill was in the hands of the law draftsman. Both Bills would come before the Labour Bills Committee. In regard,to deposits, he thought that contractors had not been very well treated. He believed that the Minister for Public Works intended to remedy their grievance. Railway freights on foreign hardwoods were at present being considered by the Minister for Railways. One or two previous deputations hnd interviewed Mr. Herries on the subject during tho present session. He believed that tho Minister for Railways would favourably consider the request, either when he was making a general revision of the tariff or separately. All the suggestions made by the deputation would receive the consideration to which they were undoubtedly entitled.