ADDINGTON INQUIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 41, 13 March 1909, Page 6

ADDINGTON INQUIRY.

A CUMBERSOME SYSTEM. Ry Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night, v The Addington workshops enquiry was resumed this morning at the Provincial Council Chambers, the members of the board present being—Professor Scott (President) and Messrs. J. J. Nivcn and' E. Roberts. ■•>

Harry If. Jackson, loco' engineer in charge of the Unrumii-Blulf section, said lie had been in tin. service .since November. lS7(i. and had been hi his present position since January, IIHIO. The Aldington workshops were a part of his charge, and he was frequently at the workshops, although he could not spend as ninth time there as he would like. During his charge ot the section, he had I'o.nut the men at Addingtuii a line body of aiien, and there was not more idling than at any other works. When detected, offenders were suitably punished, and no ease was passed over. He was quite satisfied the boiler shop ivos as clliciently .supervised as any other shop; if anything, more! so. the discipline at the shops ,yns quite satisfactory. Auy breaches were suitably published. The output of work at Addington was perfectly satisfactory, in his opinion, and he would put in a summarised comparison of the output from 1001. The present arrangements as to stall' were too cumbersome, and it happened at lin.es that months elapsed before the additional men asked for were granted. The present system relating to a proposed addition to the stall was lh.it (lie workshop.' manager reported lo him. lie reported to the chief mechanical engineer, who sent on the application lo the General Manager, from whom lie (witness) got his instructions. If the additions were approved of, lie was furnished with a list of names or men who had to be appointed in the order given. The. lirst man might be d I. the second out of the country, the third in a regular job. and the operation had to go on until a man was found who was willing to start work. Then if the man did not turn out satisfactory, the whole operation had to be gone through again, so that a long time might elapse before the stall' required were obtained, and in the meantime the work was not going on as it should do. Tn regard to the filling of vacancies he dealt direct with the stall' ollice. He wrote 1o the General Manager's office, and was frequently told it was not intended to replace the men. and he had to return to the charge time after time, and in some cases be had to write to Mr. Beattie to assist him to get the vacancy filled. Of course the General Manager could not be. ex-peeled to see. all of these applications, and the matter must necessarily he left to somebody in the office, and that was the person with whom lie liafl to correspond as a rule as regards the stall' When a new machine wa6 obtained, lie was told frequently to take a man off another machine to work it, : and had to protest on that account, I showing it was of no use getting a new I machine and no qualified mail to work | it. The Classification and Si'ipera'anualion Acts had lo be considered also in regard to the cngagimr of men. Generally (he stall' arrangements were tot) cumbersome anil he considered power should be given lo the workshop manager to engage ami discharge casual labor, for that would undoubtedly facilitate the work. The method of getting rill of men was also cumbersome, irad he considered that if at were found necessary (o get. rid of men that should he done without the long correspondence 'required at (present. .Rogiarditig) the manufacture of new locomotives at Aldington, a great part of the time had lo be occupied with repair work, especially before, holiday periods, as it was uocrssary (o have everv engine out of (lie shops lo deal with the trnllie. Very often, therefore, the new locomotives' work had lo suffer, sometimes very seriously. The three A engines referred lo the previous day eost M-2XII for wages, and UI77H for material, a total of Cl.'llll. which included extras. It to that were added the 15 per cent, coinmission charged on the locomotives built at (he shop... (he total would lie £41157. The net cost of labor and material was <Ml>B'4 the engine being in precisely the same condition as the engines delivered by the contractors. The contract price for such an engine was .C.KWB. a difference of £B4, but the shops supplied the contractors with a large quantity of the gear at practically net eost, anil in addition it had happened that gear had to be taken oil' the shop engines to supply ,the contractors for (heir engines. The price of the work at Addington varied sometimes in favor of Addington. and vice versa, la his opinion some of the plant and appliances were obsolete. Some eighteen mouths ago he had made strong representation in regard to re--1 modelling the machinery shop, but nothing had been done in this respect up to the present. There was no doubt thai some of the old boilers Inivnl a terrible amount of coal. The method of distributing the work was satisfactory. John Francis .McCarthy, wo'rksliops manager at Newmarket, staled that he was for six and a-hall years manager at Addington. There was'no loafing at the simps in bis time, lie thought the Addington men were more ellicient than (he men at Newmarket or T'etone, for they had the advantage or greater experience over a more extended range of work. The lifting appliances at Addington could be improved. He had visit-d several of the principal workshops ! .n Australia, but only in one did the Industry cud discipline compare, with Addington. At those shops the system was much better, and the locomotives were built in sets of ten. To do that at Addington, however, would require more accommodation. Repair work at Addington seriously interfered with the new work.

To tlie Board: Tlie system of appointing tile in™ was unsatisfactory. lli> could nol recall recninnii'iuliiijf lliat n man lie dismissed at Addingloil. owing to lapse of time. He vpn quitp satisfied tliat wliile lie wus at Addbijjtoii tlie men were doing a fair day's work for a fair (toy's waste. Viirtliev expert evidence of an appreciative nature was, given, and tlie enquiry adjourned till Monday.