MANNING THE KARAMU

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 34, 10 February 1913, Page 3

MANNING THE KARAMU

TO TUB EDItOB. , Sir,— Your issue of Saturday' makes reference to the stokehold maiming o{ tho g.B. Karatnu-"state9 she is wrongly iated and too hard on tho hands below deck. and that no complains welo macfo ofHcially to the company. ■In August last tho firemen of the Karamu complained that, she was too heavy ( a job in the stokehold for oho man in a watch, ahd subsequently 1 referred the case to the Dunedin 'branch secretary to discuss with' the head office of tho company. In . September nivKeif and other representatives of the union ilipcuesed the caso with fho geherpj manager of the company . at Dunedin, with the object of getting more men in the ship, and he then promised tlmt it •would be investigated. We patiently waited for some intimation from the company till the 18th December, ahd on that date I wrote -the general manager, tiuly setting forth the particular* of <h« case, and urging him to cause three trimmers to bo placed in tho vessel; ■» far my letter is not oven acknowledged, let aloho replied to. This answers your itiport that no complaints wore modo of' facially to the company.^ On her trials tho Karamu indicated some 800 horse-power, and at that indication our manning ecale would com-

prl hei lo uiri.v not leeFt than fhruft greaßorc, thr.cn liicman. nnd two trimmers; hho is cuirjing thico lireman iind one grot'sor. flor presumptive imiicatpd power trading on tho coast ib 700, and at (hut indication our hculo poimits hur to run with throo firemen only, but tho harac bcalo would compel a vessel of 250 indicated power to cairy identically Ihu same number of men a« a ven«el in* tlicnting 700. Tho indicated power of a hlhp is dutonnineil by thr number of revolutions of tho propeller; tho numbuf of io\oluliai'B of tlio propplh'i 1 is aoterlnined by tho position of the " expansion " and tho head of steam 011 Iho boihrsi the head of stoain on tho boilers is deberfemned by the amount, of work a fireman iv the stokehold per forms. From that you will nco that a vebßel indicating 700 itnil only carrying the sumo number 'if men in the stokehold as a \essel indicating 250, is nhogulhci too heavy; a job for 0110 fireman tyi watch, who, in this once, ims to *ro t-ix furnaces, trim his own coal ftom tho bunkeis on to tho stokehold phi toe, nnd thci'o arc occasions when lid hub to trim it from the hold of the t-hip, besides doing other work, each ok cleaning fires, bugging nshe?, eti\ Tlio Karamu bus two lioilert-, and, ns pointed out, i-ix furnaces; she uvOrufrcs ten nnd a'half knots per hour) nnd, on occasions, iuns ovrr eleven knots. Compufc her caso with Ihfit of the fc.s. Laininctoo .trading on tho Australian eoa?t with three ixjilcis and nine (iron. Tho latter vcssrl wai carrjippf nine finmen, but in 1008 the union represent;)twos induced 'the owners to run tiur with «Jx firemen and six trinnneis, which moant an incyen&o of throo men m the xtokchold, and she has been trading with that, number ever since. In the case of thd Lninmcfoo, it works out at two firemen and two trimmer in « watch, with four and a-half fires tier fironmn 011 watch. In tho case of tho Karamu, it works out at one fireman untl no •trimmers iv ft watch, with six lis-es per Rrcinnn" oh. watch, and in thin case, tlm fireman has »o do his own trimming, whereas in that of thn Lameroo tlia firemen do no trimming. The requpst we luno made for three trimmers for ♦ho Karamu is perfect ly 1 r-aKOtiablo under the circumßtoncc*, and if the company pxpenenw difficulty 111 getting firemen for tho ship, tH outlined in your report, of Saturday, it ib because they are not amenable to reason and common •sense, pud because they ignoro me communications of the union rebooting the subject.-•! am, etc., W. T. YOUNG, , Federated Scaineiib 1 Union. 9tli February, 1913. '