THE LABORER'S LIFE.

NZ Truth, Issue 143, 14 March 1908, Page 5

THE LABORER'S LIFE.

WHAT IT IS WORTH.

The Wretchedness of Govern-

ment Workers.

More Bounding Bosses at Kaiwarra.

Just now the industrial air of New Zealand is thick with strikes and breaches of awards and Labor Hs gripping Capital's . throat, thereby putting a Liberal Government m a beautiful pickle, seeing that the elections are rapidly approaching. Moreover, it has to be coldly and callously observed that m God's Own Country,* or the Workers' Paradise, or whatever New Zealand's alias is, the life of the ordinary laboring man is held very cheap. Indeed, the records of our Law Courts convincingly prove that a working man can be legally murdered from prices ranging from £50 to £250, and should any widow or relatives happen to break a record with a verdict of anything from £500 to .£IOOO, pur democratic law permits plutocratic fat to worry and harass the widow and break her, Catherine-like, ■oh the wheel of Costs. Yes, it is an indisputable fact' that the life of a laboring man m God's Own Country ten* worth that 1 of a prancing prad. Laborers' lives are not, metaphorically speaking, worth "tuppence," and if the working man used his voting power judicially it would be m the direction of a wholesome amendment of a legislative enactment which places, as a maximum the sum of £400 as compensation to widows arid orphans for the legalised mtirder of the winning husband and father. These few- pertinent observations serve to introduce to public notice and for Government attention, the" state of affaird presently* existing 6fi the Government Railway wortts at. Kaiwarra, where the duplication of the Petone line is proceeding at an ALARMING RATE OF PROGRESS, and the minimum of expenditure, we don't thinkv! It is bad enough at any time for any employer of lah'or to be proved guilty of., or to be charged .with, any lache of labor, . law, where human life is liable to be sacrifioed ; but what can be said when the Government, through its servants, are guilty of the grossest negligence and actually ridicule any attempt on the part of . the . worker to adopt precautionary measures „&-. gainst accidents, which are liable to endvfataHy. The recent entombing and miraculous escape from an awful death of .twoimen.at .Ngahauranga recently should certainly cause the bosses to reflect . on possibilities and insist, rigidly insist, on the use ' of life lines. Now, this paper doesn't know a man named McKay, who is one of the bosses at Kaiwarra, but he has been .heard of, and; moreover, it is. not known whether the use of life lines on such works, are insisted upon by legislative enactment. At anyrate, these life lines are supposed to be used, by men working on the hills, because it means that if the worker stumbles he is liable to be precipitated a distance of from 60 to 100 feet, below. The life line is attached on the top and reaches down the side of the hill, and thus prevents the men; m the event of any sliding, from being hurled to the road' below or being entombed m the falling debris. It is here that McKay comes into question. He has given it as his positive, opinion that the life line IS A SANGUINARY NUISANCE and that the men would, find i\ so. What justification McKay has for nttering his opinion can be gauged by an event of Friday week last. While some of the men were engaged, on the hill m digging operations, the shoot below the barricade became blocked. One man was sent down to clear it. This necessitated a cessation of work on , the part of the men above, which meant that while the man below was busy clearing the shoot, none of the mullock, or sand, or rock, o* whatever it is, would be swept down on him. While the men were waiting one sat on a ledge, hanging on to the rope, and along came McKay, who roared out, "Get up off your — .". McKay was Quickly remonstrated with, and the danger 'of the man m the! shoot was pointed out "to him, but McKay seems but a worm, as he gurgled out something about doing his duty and expressed his fear of the engineer happening along and saying something rude m a raucous Voice."Truth" doesn't know the engineer, but it suspects that the man McKay stood m mortal dread of to be Inspector Lee, who is a champion bully and -slave driver. So , great is the necessity for working with a.iife-line' that it .might be mentioned that on several spots on the hill the men have, tp stand oh one leg ahdbalanee themselves the best way they can, and the assertion that the line is a, .nuisance might be attributed to McKay's playfulness. The result, anyhow, of his ordering one man to get up ofi his — — was that the man "chucked"' the job at once and con-? signed Lee, McKay and the Government to hell. It is hell for the men working under McKay' and Lee, and the fact that within one month 90 MEN LEFT THEIR JOBS, '; i speaks for itself. This paper isn't inclined to blame JftcK&y rq much. He has to .see that Ywifij work, is done and, perhaps, being rendered callous,; any source of danger to the human cattle on the hill doesn't appeal to him, or if it did he might.be biffed; out himself. The laborer, as "Truth" set out to say, . hasn't got a life ■ that's worth anything, and if the life-' lines on the works at Kaiwarra are not availed of, the consequences might prove serious. , Anyhow, this paper draws attention to .the matter; aiid hopes that things will mend and' that McKay will bend and that the Government, as an employer, will set) a good example to private employers by recognising' that a worker's life is tenfold more valuable than that of the average "fat" man. .