THE MANGAHAO TUNNELLERS
STA-fiIMENT BY UNION SECRETARY By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Feb. 18. The trouble amongst the tunnellers at the Mangahao hydro-electric works has not yet been settled. Commenting on the situation to-day, Mr. Cook, acting secretary of the New Zealand Workers' Union, remarked that the attitude taken up by the Public Works Department was typical of the present Government’s administration. “We went before the Minister to ask for a reduction in the cost of explosives and the sharpening of steel, but the Minister refused to grant either request,” eaid Mr.- Cook. “The stand taken by the Minister is hard to understand, but there is no doubt he had previously received his instructions from the party he represents, viz., the Employers’ Federation. Briefly, the stand taken by the Minister means that it is going to cost from £7OOO to £lO,OOO more to do tunnel work at Mangahao than it would have done had the Minister granted the reasonable concessions asked. It has been repeatedly stated in the Press that the Minister favors the work being done by co-operative contract. This is not so. The men have already been engaged on co-operative contract work. What the Minister does favor is a straight-out contract, which means taking a little worry off the shoulders of the department. The men were prepared to continue the work at £3 2s per foot. Compare this with the price the Department is already paying for one tunnel at Mangahao, viz., £4 10s per foot for a straight-out contract. It is practically certain that not less than £4 10s per foot will have to be paid for the Arapete tunnel 'by straight-out contract, whereas, had the Minister granted our requests, it would have meant a saving of £1 8s per foot, or, roughly, £7500 on the Arapete tunnel.
“The tunnel men who have now left Mangahao were made up of the best tunnel workers in New Zealand, and will be very hard to replace. The men were working under the worst conditions, and had a little tact been used by the Public Works Department, they would have been there till the tunnel was completed. To give some idea of the wet nature of the tunnel the men were working in, the pumps are throwing 150 gallons of water per minute out of the Arapete end. of the tunnel,. Finally, I sum up the position as more a Public Works Department muddle. I wish to state the men stood solid throughout the trouble, and, so far ae they are concerned, t]ie work will be at a stanrstill for a hundred years unless these reasonable demands are granted.
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Taranaki Daily News, 20 February 1922, Page 7
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438THE MANGAHAO TUNNELLERS Taranaki Daily News, 20 February 1922, Page 7
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