The Globe. TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1878.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1283, 30 April 1878, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1878.

In an article which appeared last night's Star opportunity is taken to make an accusation against us of having wilfully misrepresented tho Government in the matter ©f the overtime to the railway employees. In an article appearing on the 16th inst. wo took occasion to point out what soemed then, and does so still, to be a very glaring inconsistency on tho part of tho Premier. We showed that Sir George Grey during his visit hero paraded himself most ostentatiously as the champion who had arisen to do battle for the working classes. It was therefore very hard to reconcile this with tho fact that the Ministry, of which ho was the head, should have persistently refused to pay for overtime to tho working men employed by them here. That was the position we took up on tho 16 th inst. That is tho position we still maintain, and we challenge our contemporary to disprove the facts wo shall presently adduce to show that our statements wore based on tho actual stato of matters. The Star —for purposes of its own, and in a case when any coadjutor is valuable—suddenly discovers that there is amongst us a Political Reform Association, and a mild dose of commendation is thereupon administered because the said Association has —so our contemporary believes—enabled the Star to discover how very mendacious the statements of the Globe on the subject of the railway employees were. With a " promptitude " which tho Star calls "' commendable " the committee of this Association communicated with Sir George Grey, and his answer was, as tho Star puts it, " short," but to our mind by no means " decisive." Ho says, " on inquiry it will be found on 13 th April an order was made providing for overtimo allowances being paid to railway employees on the Middle Island railway*." On the strength of this telegram, and apparently without making the slightest enquiry, our contemporary concludes that wo were altogether wrong, and proceeds to accuse us of " grossly misrepresenting the Premier " in our article of the 16 th instant. Now that our contemporary has made a charge of untruthfulness and misrepresentation against us which ho fails to support with one tittle of evidence, we ask how have we " misrepresented" the Premier in the articles reforrod top What have wo asserted which is not absolutely true ? We stated that Sir George announced himself as a champion of the working man when he was here. Can tho Star deny this P We said that the Hon. Mr. Larnach had promised the deputation at Oainaru that overtime should be paid for, and on tho authority of a Southorn paper, that after it had boen paid for on this section of the railways, it was stopped. Wo also stated that on the Canterbury section no overtimo was paid for, though the men wore working over-hours. Where is the misrepresentation ? We repeat that at the Ohristchurch station no overtimo is paid either in tho export or import sheds, though tho men have to work overtime. Wo challengo the Star to disprove this, or to stand convicted not only of grossly misrepresenting the truth, but endeavoring to conceal an injustice dono to a largo section of working men. Nay, more, £up to last evening no alteration had taken placo in the existing system. No notice has ever been given of tho "order" spoken of by Sir George Grey as having been issued on tho 13th of April, and tho first intimation tho working employees in the traffic department at Ohristchurch had of its existence was through the columns of tho newspapers on the 27th, when Sir George's telegram was published. Since tho 13th April, up to last night—or fourteen working days—the employees have never been asked to furnish any account for overtime, nor has any payment been made to tho working men at Ohristchurch. The statements we made on tho 16th, which our contemporary is pleased to call " gross misrepresentations," aro therefore borne out in every particular by facts, and as we stated a serious injustice—which the Star endeavours carefully to conceal by raising a cloud of dust—has been done to a large soction of tho working class, and that too by a Government of which their friend is tho head. So far as the issue of the order spoken of by Sir George Grey is concerned, we know nothing. It may have been issued as stated, but the fact remains—and whether tho order was issued or not does not affect this—that overtime has not been paid to the men at the Ohristchurch station employed in tho traffic department, and that thoy were unaware of the existence of any arrangements by which they were to bo paid for overtime until they saw it in tho newspapers. If this order is in existence it should bo acted on at once, and should also bo mado retrospective, because months ago Mr. Larnach deliberately pledged the Government to see this overtimo paid for, a pledge which was deliberately broken, at least so far as the Ohristchurch men aro concerned. It is pitiablo to see that the zeal of our contemporary has led him to involve himself in such a tissue of unsupported assertions and deliberate misrepresentations as appear in his article of last evening. Blindly believing in Sir George Grey, the Sta r at once takes it for granted that becauso tho Premier says an order was issued on tho 13th for tho payment of overtimo, that it was at once acted upon. As wo have shewn, such was far from beiDg tho case because thoso most interested—tho working men themselves —only becamo awaro of tho existonco of such an order through tho medium of the public papers fully a fortnight after the

date on which the Premier says it was issued. Wo leavo the public to judge for themselves whether or not the facts we advanced on the 16th instant, which the Star characterises with some amount of effrontery as "misrepresentations," have not been fully substantiated ? Let our contemporary on another occasion, boforo making reckless and unfounded accusations against us, bo quite sure of his own ground, or it may be that the public will havo its eyes opened to the true character of the disinterested part of champion of Sir Georgo Grey which the Star so assiduously fills.