ROADS BY LABOR-CONTRACT.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 407, 17 September 1861, Page 4

ROADS BY LABOR-CONTRACT.

It is no secret, after the delivery of Dr. Menzies* opening address to the Provincial Council and the sending down the Estimates, that our new Government are in earnest as ?n the parly prosecution of public works, ;-.-.'.' : ~!y roads, so far as the means at '\.b,; .. vosal will allow. But we have not

yat heard whether it is their intention to pursue the thriftless system hitherto mostly : jted upon in other provinces,—that of keeping up an expensive staff ofroad-over-jssers, and of paying for labor at per day of so many hours, —or of appointing a competent Provincial Surveyor, who is also a civil engineer, (as is now generally done in the Counties at home,) with power to engage a foreman as occasion may require, and then putting up the respective roadworks for contract by public competition, or else allowing parties to tender for the labor at specified rates of payment for specified quantities done. It is probable that at the outset our legislators and administrators may be forced, by present want of the right man for the conjoint officers in question, to ' stand upon the ancient ways," to tread in the footsteps of their predecessors :—we trust not for long. All experience proves that when a Government becomes an employer of labor at so much per day of so many hours, although it may have ■vigilant and efficient overseers, the ' Government stroke' soon becomes the order of the day; not all the efforts of the overseers check the rise and spread of this evil, so long as this mode of payment is followed. The only cure is, resort either to contract for an entire work, or to payment of labor by the rod or chain.

Sore 3 three or four }^eaiis ago, we had an opportunity of closely abserving the working; or the two systems in a northern r;iovr:\2e«, Overborne by a factious cry, that if was the duty ot the Government to provulg employment lor new-comers till they chose to go upon their land, and for old men who could not do the day's work of younger men, the Provincial authorities (though then not over-flush of funds) set to work upon a road long required a numerous body of immigrants who had arrived at a time when country employment was scarce. The day's wage was fixed, so was the number of hours, (eight, we think,) and a thoroughly conscientious inspector was set over them, both to see that they did their work well and that they earned their day's wage. As well might a black have occupied his post. The road parties grumbled at not getting higher wages, and became adepts in the government-stroke; they also fell out among each other because the gangs were not well-assorted—the young stalwart men complaining that the more aged did not do their fair share of labor. Great irregularity also prevailed as to the hour of beginning the day's work— the most exemplary exactitude as to the minute for leaving off. The consequence was that the work was scamped yet proceeding very slowly ; and while the inspector had to report these facts to the Govern-•■■i'-;rK, *.•■'.< several road parties complained ;"!>}■- 'j-.Viy of the 'pittance' they received, ijui of ilie «harshness' of the inspector. The Superintendent saw that a change in

the system was imperative if the public funds were not to be absolutely wafeted, and a more economical system was soon devised, which had the additional merit of proving as satisfactory to the roadmen as to the Government. The average of the work that could be comfortably done in a day was calculated; next, what the work would come to, per rod or chain, at the prevailing rate of Government wages; and, lastly, the option was given to the men of tendering for the work on those terms. The younger and more energetic jumped at the offer— the older and weaker were compelled by circumstances to accept the Government

terms.

What were the consequences of this change of system, as manifested at the end of the succeeding week ? These :—that a greater length of road had been formed and metalled in that one week than had been done in the month previously; that, instead of sauntering up to their work at half-past 8 on fine summer mornings, young and old were on the ground by 6 or 7 o'clock at the latest, haying their meals brought to them to save time, and, instead of joining the eight hours' movement, they stuck at it till 6 and even 8 o'clock at night: that the younger men got, in lieu of the twenty-four shillings they before received with sullenness, for little work and badly done, their two pounds or fifty shillings each, while the less active men earned from twenty-seven to thirty five shillings; that not only was more work done, but it was far better done —not an angry word was heard among the roadmen, for all were too intent on their work —and the inspector's office became comparatively a sinecure.—One excellent feature in the mode of payment was that it was weekly, not monthly—at the road office, not a public-house. But there is yet another beneficial result from the inauguration of this system to be noticed. A considerable proportion of these higher weekly wages quickly returned to the Provincial Treasury in the shape of purchase-money for town allotments or country sections; and among the most industrious and prospering settlers in that province are very many members of that same body of roadmen upon and by whom the two systems—lay-labor or piece-work ? —were so effectually and satisfactorily tried.