HIGHER STATUS NEEDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 473, 1 October 1928, Page 12

HIGHER STATUS NEEDED

MARINE ENGINEERS’ VIEWS TARIFF REVISION URGED (Special to THE SUN) WELLINGTON, Sunday. At a meeting of marine engineers last evening a revision in the status and wages of New Zealand marine engineers was urged by Mr. W. J. Galloway, a former president of the Wellington branch of the Marine Engineers’ Institute. Mr. Galloway thought a committee from the institute should revise the tariff conditions of the country, thereby building up tlie work of the New Zealand engineering industry and gratifying both the industry and the engineers in New Zealand and in England. At present the conditions were unfavourable to all except the foreign industries. The best engineers are forced to leave New Zealand and go abroad, as there is no scope for them here. In New Zealand there are all sorts of inspectorships and directorships for turning out the finest primary products, but there is no link to provide a committee of engineers whose aim would be to get better conditions for the carriage of primary refrigerated products to other lands. The need for revision in the salaries paid to inspectors of machinery in New Zealand was also commented on. Mr. Galloway said men of talent and experience in the engineering profession were rt to-day receiving lower salaries than men engaged as chief engineers at sea, or as inspectors of primary produce.