The Co-op. Trouble.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8197, 25 May 1906, Page 3

The Co-op. Trouble.

A newspaper on the Mai a Tru»>k Line has been furnished with a statement in reference to the above trouble. According to informant's statement he had been employed on the co-operativo works for some tune past, first at Mataroa, aud then along that stretch of line between there and Turangarerc. Liter he was moved with a batch of men on to Oha-jUn-e' a f 4 or a short stay there decided to " turn the game up," as there was nothing in it. " I came from the South" Island," said he, " where I was employed, first, on a gold dredge, and then on the land m Otago, and later on in Canterbury. I am married and have five kids, and, as pay was not too good, decided to try the Main Trunk line, as I heard wages were steady. I went to the Labour Department and was drafted up •to Mataroa. The work was not so bad there, and, as we had fairly good men in the gangs, we knocked out fair wages. Then we were moved on, as the works" at Mataroa were nearly finished. I worked along a God-forsaken piece of lino between there and Turangarere, and then the trouble commenced. Men seemed to get scarce, and all sorts of fellows came up and were put into the gangs. Some of them had been navvying before, but others never had a shovel in their hands, and were clerks and shopmen. They were mixed , up with the hardened men, and down came the wages. The new chums saw that themselves. They knew they could not do the work, and some admitted it. Then the rain came on, and living in tents and whares bec&me unbearable. To make things worse, transport on the roads gradually became impossible, and supplies became less and less, and prices tightened. This increased the discontent, and men commenced leaving—that is, the old hands turned the game up in disgust, or, at least, those who were free agents. The married men had to stop on because of their families. When the experienced navvies left their places were filled by new chums, most of whom were strangers to pick and shovel work. This brought down the wages again, and tho wet weather interfered with the amount of cutting we could do until we could hardly earn enough to pay the stores bill. Then the stores shut down. I do not say they were not right in doing so, because some of the men had slipped them up for their accounts when work was all right. Some were softies and let sharks come up and rook them right and left, but they were in the minority, only it was hard on the men who were willing to pay and could not. Soon after this I went to Ohakune, and the conditions were fearful. The country is rough and wet, the work hard, and the gangs so mixed that it is impossible to earn a living wage ; the prices high— even when goods can be got through, and only a very small percentage of the men have had any experience. At last things got so bad that I had to give in. I stuck to it as long as I could, but I, with the few remaining there, was anxious to get away before the winter came on properly, for it is bad enough now and it is only the autumn. Coming down, I met some of the Englishmen who have come out with the idea that they will make a pile. The experience they had in Wellington as soon as they landed from the steamer did not impress them, as they thought they would have good payable work to go to. Some of them have abandoned the idea of going on the co-op., and I think a good many will leave as soon as they see the state of things at Ohakune. Many of them were not clad for the life they would have to put in, and some were not navvies, but out of work mechanics who had come out to try fortunes in New Zealand." In reply to a question as to what he thought of the co-operative system he' said the system was all right so long as it was properly applied. In the pres 1 ent instance the men were too mixed to allow of anything like adequate wages, the roads too bad for transport, and the winter too bad for living in tents. " If the Government would grade the men, open stores, and let us have portable whares it would not be so bad," he said, " and until .this is done there will alwa.ys be dissatisfaction. Cannot see anything for it but a complete stoppage in the work this winter, as the best men will leave, and the work cannot be done by any other than the most experienced navvies."