CAMP GRIEVANCES.

Patea Mail, 3 August 1880, Page 2

CAMP GRIEVANCES.

Sir, —We want to let the public know how we are treated at the Railway Camp at Chapman’s road, near the Junction Station. Some of us were sent here from Wellington, and some were taken on as unemployed at Patea. We have to sleep in tents which are so old and full of holes that the rain comes through like a sieve. The only bedding wo have on the wet ground is straw we have begged from farmers or some dried fern. If we could keep the rain out, the beds would be dry ; but as it is in this wet weather, we fa et poor food in the day and have to sleep on the wet ground at night. How can the Government expect us to do our work under such treatment ? We are entitled to pounds of meat per diem, a 2-pound loaf, 2 pannikins of tea ; and half a candle after dark. What we actually get is this: At breakfast we get a morsel of meat which never exceeds two ounces, the same quantity for dinner, and same at tea time, making about six ounces of meat for the three meals. Some of us have received no meat at all at several meals, because, so far as we know, the cook does not give it out in equal quantities, and those men who are not in his favour get what happens to be left, which is none at all. The work wo have to do requires regular diet, and enough to keep the strength up. We have to wheel barrows of earth on soft ground, without enough planking, and the barrow cannot go over the same place twice without sinking into the soft wet soil. That makes the work harder than it ought to be. The men could do more work in the same time if planks were placed where a private contractor would place them for his own benefit; and the men would not be so punished in wheeling heavy barrows as the3 r are when pushing along soft ground, the wheel sunk to the axle. The barrows are so made that they can’t be tipped, because the wheel is not fixed in the right place for this kind of work. I must say that the overseer, when he sees a barrow struck for want of a plank, is very ready to give assistance by running forward and pulling the wheel out with his own hands.

The gaugers don’t imitate the overseer. One of the gangers bullies at the men, and uses bad language to them, just like slavedriving. A ganger will say : “ Now then, pull that barrow along;” “Shove that shovel in there “ You are all asleep “ This won’t do.” And when we complain that we can’t do better with the tools, the ganger says, “You knew what it was before you came, and if you can’t work better you must knock off.” The whole of the Patea men intend to leave the job when they get paid on Saturday. Some of them have families, and a man is not allowed to go home for the night, a couple of miles from the tent, unless he reports himself at the camp at star ting--time next morning, and to do that he has to walk a quarter of a mile farther to the camp, report himselfj and then return that distance to the works. Why can’t he be allowed to report himself at the works, and save all that walking for nothing? Our work is levelling through a flat and opening a straight face, and all the surface water in this wet weather comes in and puddles the place we arc working in, so that wheeling a load through that soft slush becomes very hard work. On returning home we get a cup of tea and a piece of dry bread, as a rule. Several men from the Wairarapa won’t stop after their fortnight’s pay to-morrow. If we got 12s a day, we should not put up with the bullying we get from one of these gangers. George Bennett. Patea, Friday, 30th.