CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 64, 2 August 1912, Page 5

CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

THE CURSE OF NEW ZEALAND. FARMERS' STRONG PROTESTS. (From our own correspondent.) Wellington, Last Night. Co-operative labor found no favor with tilts farmers at their conference to-day. Mr. IT. D. Vavasour (Blenheim) moved: "That this conference strongly protests against public works being constructed under the co-operative labor system, or day labor." The system was, he said, the curse of New Zealand, depreciating the laboring man, giving him the incentive to be a loafer, and discouraging the zealous and enterprising man under the co-operative system. An enormous waste of public money had gone on. Before the late Government came into power labor construction cost £7OOO a mile, but since the late Government came into power the average cost was .-tIH.iJOO per mile, and the Seddon line, an easy line to construct, cost £20,000 a mile. This co-operative system accounted for the scarcity of labor. Grievous squandering of public money had gone on over public works under this system. The farmers must make a strong protest against this kind of thing. Mr. Mackay (Blenheim) said that the seventeen miles of the Seddon railway took six years to build. The same thing was going on there now. To devise anything worse for waste and corruption than this system would wreck the brain of a Bismarck.

Mr. Birch (Marton) described the present methods of railway construction with pick and shovel and barrow as a hundred years old. He showed how costly to every member of the community"this cooperative work was, making the railway construction, and ultimately fares anil freights, much more costly. Mr. H. J. Richards (Levin) said that the worst feature was that the country was not getting value for its money, certainly not on railway construction, under the co-operative system. The slowest man invariably set the pace, and the good man was demoralised. Mr. Nevins instanced tlie Hutt railway as a case .where machinery could have been used with great advantage and economy. He never saw more than one man, one horse, and one cart on work which could have been easily and more speedily done by machinery. Mr. McQueen (Southland) said that with the present indebtedness the country should have had miles and miles of railway but for this enormous waste on co-operative work. Mr. Moss (Wellington) pointed out that good men had to "go slow" on such work, or they would earn too much for the indifferent men. He did not look for much relief from politicians. Men who thoroughly supervised co-operative laborers were moved to other places if they were thorough by the invocation of the influence of the member for the district. He instanced work that had been paid for and yet had never been done. The motion was finally agreed to.