PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS CONTRACT.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2410, 16 March 1915, Page 8

PARLIAMENTARY BUILDINGS CONTRACT.

■•Sir, At a meeting of the Wellington Stonemasons held on Thursday night I was instructed to put their, position before the public re the Parliamentary Buildings contract. During this week all masons except two have been paid oft: owing to ; the completion , of the granite and non-arrival of tie marble. • ■According to latest advice, the Public Works Department have stated the original stone is to go in, v. hicli means, after all.this delay, the contract is to go on as per original tenders. The question still arises who is to quarry the stone, as at present there is no oiio 'at the' quarry out the Government overseer. :"Tlid contractors say that it -will be £or even 8 months, before any marble he on the job. as'from reports the iwttoin face lias been condemned. If ilia contractors' statement, is correct, 'Jen tJiS *"• reS|sonsible ' officers 'of the Tiiibl.it: Works Department must have, changed their opinions within tho last fenr wcslw,' as on .February 12 a deputation waited-on the Hon. W. i'raser, '.slid there' was plenty of cood sj-onc lii: for janis, ashlar, and other clauses of work of small dimensions. 'W'.-.i -stone could be got on the job •r.'t oii?d, and lie would not tolerate'any <n*lav; (Vide daily Press, February 13, ipi'i.) . ..... , >To the new • face there is >to be a tramline' laid, .which, aooording to reports, will take six mouths to

I down No hurry thero—eix months to lav' three' miles of tramlines. The stonemasons of Wellington consider that this position should have been settled nine months ago, and not left until the last minute. The mason work should all have been finished no later than August to allow of.the job being finished at the contract time . (December, 1915). Masons have been.employed on tho job lor 53 weeks, and during that period married men have lost an average of nine hours per week and single men eleven hours per week owing to late arrival of stone and breakdown of machinery. Now wo are faced with a spell of joining tho unskilled . workers, whoso "ranks are already overflowing. - There were masons on the job from tho. Old Country and other foreign shores, who aro now wondering where is God's Own Country.' Not here, surol.y. Others have waited in Wellington since the Post Office job was finished, working at all sorts of jobs to keep a home together, arid now we are wondering if it is worth while working at the trade. The cry throughout New Zealand today is that there are not enough apprentices learning skilled trades'. What grand encouragement for boya at our trade 1 In the Dominion thire are 120 masons, and according to this week's report there are 70 idle, and this contract is hung up when it should have employed not less than 60 masons at the present time. In conclusion, I may state that the stonemasons have requested the Prime Minister to meet a deputation, but so' far he has been unable to n-eet us owing to urgent business. Thanking you for publishing this letter.—l am, rtc., ROBT. S. LITHGOW, Secretary of the Masons' Society. Wellington, March 13, 1915.