GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 969, 4 September 1871, Page 2

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

[WEHJNGTON iin>EPßin)ENT.j August|24. Mr Harrison brought up the report of the Reporting Debate Committee on- the dispute with reference to the price to be paid to the compositors "employed on Hansard.' The report stated that; there wa3 good cause for the complaint urged by the men as to the unhealthiness of the workmen, and also that the work of composing on Hansard was of a much heavier nature thai that of ordinary newspaper work. The Committee had offered an additional Id per thousand on ; that account, but the men had refused to accept that increase, urging., .that in consej quence of the many inconveniences of the office, through the faulty system of management, they did not .consider Is 3d per thousand equal to the recognised trade price paid on the morning newspapers of the town, and asking that the amount be increased to Is 6d per thousand letters. The men also complained that they would' only be employed for about three months, and put of their wages had to pay their passages hero' and away again. In explanation of the matter contained in the report, the hon. member stated that tffe room in which Hansard work was done was absolutely unfit for the men to work in, on account of the extremely bad ventilation, and the large number of gas burners used, but this matter was in course of being remedied. Many other compiainis were urged by the men. With regard to the complaint that they had to pay their own passage* from other portions of the Colony, the Committee did not think that a fair ground on which to base a complaint,, as .men not in the employment of the Government had to pay their own passages, and there were the additional arguments against them that several of the men had been in the town before the session commenced, and that many of them would be kept in employment after the session was over. Then, again, the Committee felt that as the rate of wages in the town was the same as that paid in the Government Printing Office they would not be justified in recommending -so large an addition as that demanded— an increase amounting to as much as fifty per cent, in advance of the price paid in Chris tchurch, Dunedin, and Auckland ; so that if the Committee recommended the payment of any jtlarge increase on the sum paid in the tdwn it would not only be establishing a very dangerous precident in the Government Office, but it would encourage them to demand wages at different times that would affect the printing interest of the whole Colony, and the committee did not think they would be justified in making any offer that would be likely to exercise so prejudicial an effect. Since the printers had gem'e out on strike: they had offered i to accept Is 4d per thousand instead of Is 6d. The Committee Bad gone carefully into the matter, and he believed thai they were justified in recommending that no advance on Is 3d' should be made. Men had been sent for to all parts of' the Colony, and for the present the work would have to stand over. The Committee did not wish to go any further in the way of concession" bi<faui^ it might hg an encouragement to, ins^ibordina^iQn in other branches of the Grovernaient se^ice. In any further steps that would btf&ken the Committee would be gnided by the action of the House. The report was ordered to be printed.