ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS INQUIRY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 128, 4 February 1909, Page 3

ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS INQUIRY.

I:. .•..-.:.,•••;.,:-. with fh- Addington We.rksh'.p.- inquiry. Mr T. K. Taylor, M.F\, forwarded on Saturday last to ' th>- Minister for Railways, the following t'-li-^rrnr.: " While general satisfaction is expr< .-.-(d at your decision to hold a pubii<\ ir.st-ad of a Departmental inquiry into .Mr Rnr.ayne's serious charges of : the rii.-hon'-?ty and incompetence of j officials and workmen at theAddington railway work.-hops, it is urgently necessary t on ' v J UHt to those- accused, that the general manager's methods of control and administrate ability should also be fully inquired into. Will the order of referer.ro hewide enough to permit of this being done." In an interview with -i I'n-ss reporter one of the employee-s at the Addington workshop? had ?<ut.< thin;/ t'> say regarding the machinery ir. use in the shops. The cranes, he said, wen a long way behind th-- times, while the punching marhir.es harj ': <■ ■:: in theestablishment f«r the pan :.-i year-. In regard to rolling boiler plates, an up-to-date plant would do the v.e, r k with a man and three lads at oos a day, and do one plate a day. At Addington with the machine in use, the cost was five men at £2 13s a day. and they might be three weeks on the job. Tools were very hard to find and the regulation which required that every man should be provided with a cupboard, and that this compartment should be inspected every six months, was apparently a dead letter. Speaking ir. reft rer.ee to the flanging of large plates, the eir.pjr.yee ;-a i d that ir. ;-:,----;ste ; >.; hydraulic j n-.aohi.'.e-s we;e r-:..-r;'[y us. d for ti.e i vogue in the Ad :::,gtu;i shops required j about eight rr.er., ar/1 the process took a.« Inr.g '■■■■ : half a day. M< n had frequently to wait their turn to use 1 ! machines,