Deadlock in the Building Trades of Auckland.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 26, 1 September 1911, Page 5

Deadlock in the Building Trades of Auckland.

Interesting aaid rinexpecte-d developments have arisen in Auckland during tlie past few weeks, which tend to show how unable a Capitalist Government or Government Department is to appreciate the workers' position, or to act in such a manner as shall -assure to the workers even that little security in their m-eiuis of obtaining a livelihood which could bo given *them apart altogether from the ordinary disabilities which the current system places upon them.

The Etfiingle industry is one tliat has grown rapidly in recent years, -jwmg to the introduction of concrete into bxiildinig operations. At the present time there aj*e several largo works in progress here in Auckland which require a constant supply of shingle and sand to enable them to oonrbinue.

There is within easy distance of Auckland hundreds of miles of beaches where there is a plentiful supply of the material which is so -necessary for the carrying on of the works using concrete. There are engaged in supplying the demand for this shingle about 50 small craft, stx>ws and other boats, employing on an average- four men each or a total of 200 men. Hitherto shingle has been taken from these beaches on payment of a royalty to the owners of the land adjoining, but the owners of the land raised the price to such an extent that the master mariners could not pay it without crippling the industry —therefore, they applied to the Marine Department to take over the beacheis and to allow them to remove shingle from below high-water mark. This the Department agreed to do, charging s. roj'alty of 6d. per yard and issuing permits to the master mariners, to remove shingle, such permits to b© subject to cancellation by a month's notice to the Department .

Then one of.the landowners laid a case before the Court, suing the Department for dan.age don*o to his land by allowing shingle to be removed from below high water mark, whereupon the Department cancelled all permits, slating that the master mariiue-rs could remove shingle, but they must take a.Il risks themselves, aud at the same time continue paying the royalty to the Department of 6d per yard. This the masters could not doj as they might be fined heavily for each load they took. The Department then granted permits to take shingle from seven beaches which are twice the distance away from Auckland, and all upon the one coast, which makes it impossible., because of the danger incurred to their craft during bad weather, for the masters to use these, beaches, as before, when all beaches were open, they could choose the ones best suited and most favour-

BY TORS BLOOD WORTH.

able to the conditions of wind, and weather. As well as this, these seven beaches being further away, the cost of working them would be double what it has bean in working the nearer Auckland, a-nd obviously the master mariners could not agree to this, because most of them are supplying shingle under contract, and the contractors using the shingle have estimated ooi a certain price and cannot pay the price that would bo necessary to _ procure shingle from the further beaches.

Owing to the indifference of the Marine Department, the boats are idle and thp men who were -employed upon them a.re also idle, and the matter does n.ot end there. Already many carters have been discharged, and also men in the building trades —carpenters, plasterers, bricklayers and laborers are amongst the "unemployed, riot because there is no work, but because of the deadlock brought about by the Marine Department. All of this goes-.to show the Jiecessity for the- workers electing men to .Parliament from their own ranks, having their interests at heart, and who would see to it that no Government red tape was allowed to interfere between the worker and the means whereby he lives. It also is a splendid object lesson of the interdependence of these trades upon the others, for we have already the aristocratic carpenter idle because of the shortage of shingle. It teaches him that, after all, he has interests in common with the laborer who works with the shovel. We have the ironworker idle, too, learning the same lesson. The plasterer, the bricklayer, the carter, are all in the same school. Because these men are idle, their purchasing power has fallen; amd the shopkeeper is feeling the pinch, t.m> grocer is finding that there is another oonnection between the. sugar and the sand besides the one "with which we are all so familiar.

All this bacause someone owns the land and the Grovernm & nt, through its Minister for Marine, places the interest of the landowners before the inter-eiT-sts of the thousands who are dependent upon a-ccess to the raw materials for the wherewithal to live. And what the Marine Department is now doing for Auckland, other Departments will do for other parts, and will continue to do so a.s long as the reins of government are in the hands of the capitalist class.

Therefore,, workers of New Zealand, see to it when you have a chance that you take the reins from them and give them to the men of your own clase, understanding your position and always working in conjunction, with the industrial army to bring about the time when the earth shall belong to all, and be used for the good of all.