The Imported Navvy.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8105, 4 June 1906, Page 3

The I mported Navvy.

The Petono Chronicle publish™ a. ?n. ofTifn bya ' 00al Government's recently im. SJtMnlv .V VIM - Tb ° certainly throws some light on th< 3 hard comLk) N Md 7 by i th ? immi S rani who Kit « as a result of the Home U accounts published at follows'?— * ia fK>m ohakune > an( i is as

They (the Labor Department! did not ami 40 tO -, l lapo, Wc are between 30 and 40 miles from thetfe, and they have put us on some contract work,, and the cutting we are in h ftß hot been worked much. lam told there have been four gangs in this cutting, and none of them havo stopped long, as they could barely earn enough to pay for their food, which is very dear. Bread is lOd a 41b loaf, tea 2s, potatoes 3d a lb, tinned meat 8d per ! ' candles lad each, meat 4d per lb, and butter Is 2d lb. 1 had to buy two blannets, which cost mo 20s and 14s respectively, and they are like cobwebs. There were seven in our gang, but two of them, finding we could not make a do of it, packed up and started tramping. Altogether, out of the batch of us Englishmen who came out together, fully a dozen have turned the job up already, preferring the chance of getting another job to working for nothing. The cost of travelling up here (which occupied four days) and food and lodging will be deducted from our wages. We shall also have to pay for our axes, shovels, and handles for all tools; also pay to have our bars and picks sharpened, which is very frequent, as they are very soft metal. We also have to pay for all powder, etc., that we used in blasting the rock. They pay us Is a yard for clay and Is Gd a yard for rock, but we have to run it m 30 yards to tip it. It is not like at Home, where tliey have trucks. They measure up once a month and pay about a week later. A lot of men have come here and when they have seen the work and the price, they wouldn't start. 1" shall take the first opportunity of getting elsewhere. Today we can do no work because of the rain and snow.