THE FIRST ACT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 75, 19 March 1914, Page 5

THE FIRST ACT.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS.

Following is a copy of the Engineer’s communication: —For some very considerable time past repeated complaints have been made regarding the

capability of and the work done by the working staff in the East Eiding. f Such complaints have not been brought before the Council in definite form but that they exist and that Councillors individually have listened to them and seriously considered them there is no denying. The position, in short, 'is an extremely unsatisfactory one from every point of view, and in order to improve it and at the same time to test the direct feeling of the Council on the matter I have the following recommendation to make:—

That the services of the whole of the present East Riding permanent staff be dispensed with, and that applications be called to fill the position of one permanent foreman for the Riding, all other labor to bo under, him and to be of a non-permanent nature.

I\xy reasons for such a recommendation , are:—That the system of having three foremen in the Eiding as against one has not been an improvement in my opinion, and that a reversion to the old system which obtained some few years ago is therefore desirable; that with the multiplicity of foremen the tendency lias been for such men to look on themselves more as supervisors than as actual workers; that in order to mark his position the tendency of each is unconsciously to increase the amount of labor under his control; that the chief argument against having only one foreman, which is the amount of time he must spend in travelling, has been given more weight in the past than is warranted, and that now with the Manga ehu as a separate Eiding, the present East Riding is of a more compact nature; that it is always an easier matter to obtain one good kraan capable of carrying out the du*ties of Riding Foreman than to obtain three. I have a further recommendation to make to the Council, which is:—

That in future ail work, with the exception of ordinary maintenance work, be under taken under the contract system.

For the past four or five years work has been very extensively carried out by the Council by day labor. This system was inaugurated at a time when the contracting element was at a minimum and when no competition 'was to be obtained. Since that time it lias steadily grown, until now the majority of the work of the Council is carried out in this way. For my own part, such work has always been ■undertaken in good faith, and, gen-

erally speaking, the results have' been satisfactory and will, oh analysis, be proved to bo so; but, speaking as an Engineer, I find that at the best one is only able to clear oneself from blame, whilst at all times one has to accept the onus and responsibility of all the casual labor employed, which is expected to be satisfactory by the Council, though it may at times bo impossible to obtain satisfactory lalor. In other words, an Engineer, by adopting such a system, is only making himself a target to be shot at, and to have to face any irresponsible criticism which may be levelled at him. This, to say nothing of the enormous amount of extra clerical and office work involved. For these reasons I make the above recommendations. CONTROL OF CRUSHER. Cr. Smith said that in the West Hiding there was no trouble regarding the multiplicity of foremen—they had only one. He thought that when the crusher was in operation it should be under the complete control of one overseer. The .engine-driver was under the control of the Engineer, and not of the foreman. The recent breakdown on the crusher was an accident, but he thought its effects might have been minimised by a reasonable degree of caution. He believed that the casting which had broken was cracked when it was put on the crusher, and if the engine-driver had made application for a duplicate part the engine would not have been put 'out of commission. The crusher had been idle for eight days, and as its capacity was 100yds per day the Council could see that as a result of the breakdown 800yds of boulders were lying on the roadside which should have been crushed. There was at present too much dual control and the work was not satisfactory. He would advise the Council to devise some new system by which they could get better work at less cost to the ratepayers. AN EAST RIDING CHAMPION. Cr. Walter said thetious seemed to affect the East Ruling more tnan any other Riding, but winie they were toughing on the matter he was sure the discussion would touch all parts of the County. Personally, he was very glad tnat the matter had come before the Council. There'had been too much tittle-tattle going on. He believed it had been going on in respect to two other Ridings beside the East Riding. It was very unsatisfactory for Councillors to know that complaints were being timely made about County workmen, while nothing definite was brought before the Council. When the Mangaehu Riding was cut out one foreman did the East Hiding work and he did it excellently, bub bis services were lost for the lack of another skilling per day. If them was one foreman for the Riding he would practically have to ride all day. It would pay the Council to have only one fore, mn even if he had to ride the whole ! of the day; but they should not have the Engineer supervising also. He had always contended that there was not sufficient supervision of the work of the County. The men were scattered all over the County and they greatly needed supervision. The most of the reports received about County workmen were from people who probably just caught a glimpse of the men when driving past. What the Council wanted was a report by a man who watched the workmen’s doings for the week and who could make a definite complaint if dissatisfied. They had been doing too much work by day labor. He objected to day labor from the fact that There was no Supervision, So far as engineering went he believed tho Engineer was perfect, but then be was only engaged for part of bis time on County work and could npt

be expected to supervise it thoroughly. The work of opening up the county had been done, and ho thought that in future the Engineer should .only be a consulting engineer or on a commission basis. He desired to see Mr Robinson still as the Engineer to the County. But they must have a thoroughly competent man who could devote the whole of his time to supervising the details of the work of the County in all directions. There was no necessity to have a foreman m every Riding. In some Ridings there might be good foremen whose services should he retained L but he thought a supervising foreman should be appointed. He should be supplied with a motor bicycle, so that ho could visit the whole of the County every week. Then the Council could altogether disregard the irresponsible tittle-tattle which went on about the men. Much had been heard about one foreman in the East Riding, but a ratepayer whose word carried weight had told him (Cr. Walter) that the man in question was as good a man as the County had in its employ. THE COUNCIL’S GREYBEARD. Cr. Thomson said lie thoroughly endorsed the recommendations. He was sorry to hear Cr. Walter’s remarks. By walking over a road a Riding member should be able to form an opinion as to how it was being kept. • Cr. Walter: I can’t tell how many men have been working on it. Cr. Thomson said tho East Riding was costing too much. The watcrtables were not cleaned out.

Cr. Walter: You are condemning the Engineer.

Cr. Thomson said be was satisfied to let his remark stand. They must have a change ,and the change proposed was in the right direction. A cluing© was badly needed and the change proposed could not make mutters worse than they were. MORE OPPOSITION.

Cr. Were said that before he came to the Council he was satisfied that there was not sufficient supervision, and since be had taken his seat at the table lie had become more convinced of the fact. But until he’had more experience of the working of the staff he would not like to alter the status of tlie foremen. Cr. Smith said ho was afraid tho Engineer could not devote to the work of supervision the time necessary. THE CHAIRMAN SPEAKS. Cr. Hathaway said that if any Councillor deserved blame it was Cr. Walter, who when he came on the Council argued that there should bo one supervisor and that the Engineer should bo placed in charge of all operations. With nearly 400 miles of road in the County one man could hardly supervise tho whole of the work.

Cr. Smith: If the proposed overseer couldn’t do it, how can the engineer?

Cr. Walter: Get two overseers. Cr. Hathaway said that for foremen they must have men who wore organisers—they should not he expected to do much work themselves as to keep their men up to tho mark. In the East Riding the foreman had put on men where they were not needed.

Cr. Walter: Why don’t yon suggest tin's for the North Riding? Cr. Hathaway said that in the west section they had a foreman who had been with the County since its inception and the east section man was a valuable man who was particularly capable in tho management of men. The North Riding roads bad never been in better condition, but he doubted if the Riding was in a position to keep the roads in the condition of carriage drives. There bad been many complaints from reputable ratepayers. One such case bad been gone into, but nothing could bo proved. Where there was smoke, however, there was fire. Ho did not know why most of the complaints were confined to one Riding. All foremen were not organisers. There were those who slaved themselves at work, but could not organise their men. If there was only one foreman in the East Riding it stood to reason that lie could do no shovel work. He thought it was a mistake for the foremen to he given a free hand as to how many men they should employ. The motion for the adoption of the recommendations was carried, the dissentients being Crs. Walter, Wore, and Smith.