WAGES AND RAILWAYS.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2602, 20 June 1871, Page 2

WAGES AND RAILWAYS.

To the Editor. Sir, —Referring to the correspondence which has lately appeared in the co'umus of a contemporary, as to the rate of wages paid by railway contractors to their men—and especially to the rates paid hy the contractors of the Clutha Railway, which are said to contrast favourably with those obtainable elsewhere, i have noticed, with regret, more than once, insinuations thrown out that the promoters and contractors of the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway have acted towards their men in a less liberal manner. This being a question of some public importance, I have taken the t oublc to ascertain the (facts, and, to my surprise, 1 Hud chat not only do they not justify any such assertions, hut that the very reverse is the case. That your readers may judge for themselves, I lind : 1. That the much-vaunted and most favorable rate of remuneration paid for excavation on the Clutha Railway, is 9d a cubic yard. 2. That the minimum rate on the Port Chalmers Railway for similar work is Is per cubic yard, aqd this only when the laud is favorable and the leads extremely short ; hut that Is Id, Is 2d, and Is 3d per cubic yard is freofy.paid ; and that in all cases tfye sub-contractors are provided, free of charge, with waggons, rails, and other plant necessary, 3. I find, besides, what I confess surprised me most of all, that the average rate for excavation actually paid to sub-contractors on the Port Chalmers line is identicaßwith the contract price paid by the Government for such work on the Clutha line. I think that those facts, when known, will satisfy the public that the insinuations thrown out in the correspondence referred to and elsewhere, have no foundation to rest upon; and that tjie question, so far M regard

the Clutha Railway, had much better have been left alone. I have, in conclusion, ascertained that the men employed on the Port Chalmers Railway can spend, and do spend, their money where they please. Credit notes are given whenever required, and the promotera pay thess on presentation by tradesmen of Dunedin and Port Chalmers. It is quite clear, therefore, that the truck system has no encouragement at their hands. I am, Ac., Justice.