THE RAILWAY WORKSHOPS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9364, 5 February 1909, Page 7

THE RAILWAY WORKSHOPS.

A‘K ; rt arc. ...j-. ■*. s ■, J 'W ?.;> ■ “THE ABSOLUTELY . " EOTTENJ” AN EMPLOYEE’S STATEMENT. Per Press Association. " Uhristoliuroh, February .3. In an interview with a Lyttelton Times reporter, a man who has had practical. experience - of the work in the'Addington Railway yforkshops, and who ha's' also served in the Hillside workshops. gave his impressions .qi the conditions prevailing. is were summed pp ip hiSr-pnal '’•.statement:- f “There is not much wrong with the way "the men Awcr|:.’’ he said. “A map wrio.hls liad Experience m big engineering shops at Home has told me that the work at Addington is as hard as ir ~ls in Armstrong’s, for instance, bat the system is absolutely rdtteh;;' It is’ iheflSdient and , wasteful, and it does not encourage best i ”* ’“'in the Hillside shops, he said," the tools -were: modern, and complete: In Addington the ,< supply of tools for the .fitter o tP a degree. loss of time. Labourers had been put bn to work machines, with the result that coni - ihetU spent' hbiirs -fbbtifyiog the blunders of' other people, and 1 material was wasted in a fashion that would not be,[tolerated;ln a privately 1 ' owned y workshop. ’ That ‘ sort of ,things ;has;: happened ur again, arid, again. • fv ' “Do yon mean to say that a man is •• 'potion to do wbrk for' Inch -he is not comnetent?" asked the reporter. ‘ ‘jOertainly, ’ ’ replied t thb rwdrk..shppa:man..t' get appointments tiirongh political;,influence, and some of the forepen apd’dmads of ' n debattmeiits‘ do not 's ; eein i ‘ strong ehorigH 1 or bohsoiehtious'ehough to ' :n i ! hsist that ‘the employbbs nride’rthem shall be efficient.' An ’order comes from*the-head offioe tbat acertain mandate be taken oh, and he gets a' , ’.place some / w,l‘«re.,wkather ) ,iie! is competent dr not.’l bays,, spen,men incompetent;' , Mind, ;X >m nolj cond'b'mning iill the 1 officers bf the shops. The manager at'Addington is a good man.r yr .Tha% -fore’man: f ;kbjleimaker, whowm , out" :> fot kpeoial blame in the letter from Mr Rois one of ,! the best “mien yotf could find. He works his I ’then hard arid keeps them up to the ma'rk, ! and satisfied because they know w tbat,;they get fair, treatment. >? There are' other >men, in responsiblei positions who are absolute wasters. They

are not capably qf r un(Jertakipgci the work that 1 they are snpposed to ?'Vuberirltend. ” ' r ' . Asked fpr an instance of.the, waste r tHd inab that lasiyear ’ the Addington Shop's turned out - the first locomotive of a- new pattern. The , plana were suppliedr.ltoim jtlib? head office in Wellington.? ; Three''fets of bjcakp gear had, tppbe manufactured a|ai ! oosip^;pihQ|dji' : 'i£6o each time, because the plans were faulty. The ,»vflrstrset fouled the spring gear ; ' f the second set j was too -weak. At the -,1 third attempt a, satisfactory,, design was evolved. ‘ When the ,boiler was . put down on the frame, the , ,steam- : pipes cduld‘ hot be got . in because of - their design, and a hew’lot hf pipes ' KM‘to be made. Again the fault ■ layrwith'-'J designers,- The first - Idoomotive tookhfive months: to build, but with the perfected design, evolved v by cpstly experiment it was now possible..to,build PPP in 1 0SS than half the time. In the course ~of further conversa- '* im^n;’'meptiplned various other grievances, all based on the lack of efficient control There were good-'foremen ifi the service,: . and. the-hands, serving-, under these foremen got fairnpay and fair treat? n^nt.Qn the other- hand,: the ; re ! were bad’ foreipgn,„paftP; t ,w.h ( o. seemed to have got their, billets through a ‘ “pull* of sdihe ; description, and, under these’ officers 5 1? fche' conditions o; were'entirely bad. - Wherever-politi-cal influence had been allowed to touch the shops, trouble had re- ; spited.. '■ y A concluding .question elicited the statement that the workshops men would be very careful. abput giving evidence against their superiors, because they believed ,that such action V wcta.ld. Imperil their billets/'?? - “Already there; are,, notices up in the shops saying, that we are not to give away, information,” he remarked. : “Some of' ha don’t mind taking the ohande, bnt ‘a great'many of the men won’t .be in; apy,hurry to come, forward . against men who may afterwards re- , main in control.,” , . , , • 'i j'-.i ry £ 1 i.