“A GHASTLY BUHGLE.”

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2262, 6 August 1908, Page 1

“A GHASTLY BUHGLE.”

THE RUSH TO BROKEN RIVER. HARDSHIPS OF THE UNEMPLOYED. One of tho co-operative workers who went to the railway works at Broken River last week while the unemployed rush was on, contributed to tlie Christchurch “Press” on Monday an article giving a graphic account of his experiences there. After describing lus arrival at the works, ho went on to say:

By and by the Jast man had been cross-examined and we were bidden to repair to the Public 'A orks Depart meat store to receive our tools. Each min was given a pick, a long-hand-led shovel, and three sacks. Iho pick was lent to him by the Government, hut tho cost of the shovol and the sacks would be deducted from lus first pav. An axe could also lie procured on the samo terms if required. The sacks wero intended for covering stretchers for sleeping purposes. These latter wero being knocked together at a furious rate, wet timber dragged in from under tho snow being used, and the completed articles being tossed out on tho snow again when finished. Men also were busying themsolves frantically in cutting up more wot timber to serve as frames for tho tents.

“SOMEONE HAD BLUNDERED.” Everywhere was evident a state of absolute unpreparedness to deal with the fifty unfortunate human beings tliat had .been sent up from Christchurch that day. Someone had blundered. Hints dropped by bewildered Departmental understrappers afforded a clue. The Labor Department, in obcdienco to instructions from headquarters had sent the men to find employment on the co-oporativo works, but the Public Works Department, in whoso control construction ol the Midland Railway is placed, was totally unprepared for such an invasion as resulted. Its supplies of tools, touts, and other material are requisitioned only once a month, and naturally no iarge reserve store is retained for emergencies. Rut political behests must needs be executed, and so every effort was exerted to copo with the situation. Not only were the 50 men already on the spot to bo provided for, but intimation had been received that further bitches had been authorised by the Labor Department to proceed t 0 Broken ‘River on the two following days. WAITING IN THE SNOW. The. whole thing was a ghastly bungle, and the immediate-suffering entailed by the consequences fell upon the fifty wet and shivering wretches who waited numbed, hungry, and despairing in the snow to learn tlicir fate. Ultimately we were told that no tents could be provided for sleeping quarters that night, but that we should liavo to camp in two parties in two unoccupied houses a couple of miles out in the vicinity of our prospective employment. Waggons were provided to convey our swags and tools thither. Then began the great trek. First the storekeeper was visited and provisions ordered, each man being required to sign a form authorising the storekeeper to receive the amount of the debt so contracted out the man’s first pay, priority, however, being observed for one-lialf the earnings duo to expenses, tools, otc., supplied by the Department, the stipulation also being made that no single ordor would be recognised for any amount in excess of £3. As was to bo expected tho cost of provisions was high, and one was surprised to discover that a supply of the very plainest necessaries for himself and mate, such as tei, sugar, bread, bacon, potatoes, billies, mugs, knives and forks, salt, pepper, etc., ran into something like £1 10s. ALONG THE FROZEN ROAD. Our marketing completed, we set out along the frozen road for our quarters for tho night. Of the two deserted houses, one contained five rooms, and tho other four. Thirty men herded in one, and twenty in the other. Each had a kitchen, another room with a fire-place, and two other little apartments. It was growing dusk when we arrived, and the scene in our house beggared description. Thero was no furniture of any kind, save the wooden frame of an old double lied which some youths wore hacking to pieces for firewood. Tho place was plunged in gloom by tho acrid smoko arising from the firoplaces. 'Some men sitting on their swags with their faces in their hands cowered silently in the corners, others roamed about smoking,' spitting, swearing. The floors were littered with desolated humanity. Some were boiling billies, others were munching forlornly at hunks of dry, stale bread. A few candles made tho gloom the more depressing. Snow brought in upon tho men’s boots melted ill muddy pools, and the wind cut and lashed tho faces of everyone whenever tho door was opened. SATURNALIA OF MISERY. It was a saturnalia of the direst misery. 'Some of the men to escape from the horror of it all betook themselves and their belongings to an old tool shed at the rear of the cottage, and there attempted to sleep with tlie falling of the bitter night. All had satisfied tho cravings ot hunger. The youth with the mouth organ endeavored -to drive away dull care. Others, squatting on their haunches, played cards dejectedly. The pungent smoko penetrated everywhere, and everyone coughed interminably. (Sleep on tho bare boards was impossible, and throughout the night there was a continual tramping to and fro of unfortunate creatures endeavoring vainly to find warmth somewhere, somehow. Morning dawned at last with a fresh fall of snow on the ground. Tents arrived for some, while those less fortunate wero instructed to remain at the cottages until supplies should be received. Forty men arrived two days later, and these also were sent to share the miseries of tho cottages, and would he required to so remain for at least four days longer. In the meantime very few were .provided with work, and most of us were literally eating our heads off. Those who were supplied with tents went out to choose suit a bio sites. Each tent accommodates two men, ami a fireplace and a chimney fashioned from galvanised iron are attached, the parties comprising six men. The tents are pitched in groups of three, The framework is put together by Departmental carpenters, and the tents erected over it. Owing, however, to the delays in getting the timber on the ground, notall of tho available tents were pitched that night. The Department also supplies firewood at 16s ppr load (of about half a cord), and in many instances this could not be delivered that night, “ INTENSE COLD.

There is no doubt about the lulls, and those who slept in fireless tents endured suffering even greater than that entailed by a sojourn at the cot-

tngos. The framework of tho tents and tho stitches being wet, tlie tents themselves dump and being pitched on ground partly covered with snow, rendorod tho situation the more grievous. A hard frost set in that night, and in tho morning the men’s moustaches wore frozen still. Their breathing had formed little patches of ico on tho blankets near theii mouths. The interior of tho tents ind tho framework wero covered with hoar frost, and their boots were frozen to the floor. Strong, able-bodied young men crept about as though stricken with ague. The plight of the old men can bo but dimly imagined. Owing to tho unexpectedly largo number of applicants for work it was impossible for tho overseer to point on l to all the parties where they wore to commence operations during tho next day, and so another day was wasted. The men who arrived on Thursday wero to start to-day (Monday). It is doubtful whether in many cases the first month’s earnings will coyer expenses. Numbers, after spending one night in the place, returned to town iiext morning. Several, of course, were unable to discharge their liabilities, and the storekeepers subsequently refused to credit in numerous cases to the further discomfort of the men concerned. THE ONLY REMEDY.

There is only one remedy for-the state of tilings described, and it is one t).Uit' .the public in the interest of common humanity should insist upon the State applying before another workless man is permitted to go, or be sent by tho'Labor Department to Broken River. Habitable accommodation should bo provided for liis reception. If the Public Works’ staff on the ground is insufficient co-opera-tive workers already there should be employed to erect tents and have everything ready so that tho newcomers could settle down to earning wages without delay. Dry timber and dry tents only should be permitted to bo used, and supplies of firewood should bo readily accessible. All of these tilings are essential in tho winter time, and especially in regions where climatic rigours of exceptional severity prevail. OFFICIAL EXPLANATION. LABOR BUREAU’S METHODS. Regarding the complaints made by a returned co-operative worker as to tho stite of affairs at Broken River railway works when n largo batch of unemployed arrived there last week, the officer in charge of tlie Labor Department’s bureau at Christchurch told a reporter to-day that it was not unlikely the sudden arrival of a large number of men sent by the bureau oil any one day was thirtyfour, seven out of the forty-one provided with tickets having stayed away. The erection of the tents for the men was quite a new thing. Ordinarily the newly-arrived workers wero given a tent which they could put up in any sheltered corner they favored. He had as far as he coiikl remember always made it clear to tho men applying for work that the tents would bo lent to them, tho pick lent, and other,tools, jjkc the railway fare, advanced. It had always been an understood thing on co-operative works that tho shovels and other tools were advanced, to bo paid for afterwards. 'He had been asked by one man what the cost of living was likely to be, and replied, having in view a slight enhancement in prices owing to the extra risks, that it would be hut little more than in Christchurch. Tho man suggested 2.5 s or 30s. , but lie 1 had replied that it would be nearer 10s.