Saturday 7 January 1860, page 2

EMPLOYMENT OF SURPLUS LABOUR.

The Government and the Central Road Board are at issue on a very important question. Our readers are aware that at the beginning of last year the Government, in order to find employment for a number of men who were no longer required on the Northern Railway line, introduced tho system of sending such men, at fixed rates of wages, to work on the public roads - a rule being at the same time made that if any man so employed refused an offer of work at certain wages from a private employer he should be dismissed.

The policy of this Government interference with labour was pretty fully discussed during the last session of Parliament; but the reasons assigned by the Ministry in the matter were that it was much better to employ men at roadmaking than to send them to the Destitute Asylum, and that the works being executed, would, when finished, be found to afford a reasonable return for money expended upon them.

Since that time it appears that the system has been kept in operation more or less actively, and therefore opportunities are now being presented of judging fairly of the value of works executed by the 'surplus labourers.'

The Commissioner of Public Works accordingly requested the Chairman of the Central Road Board, a few weeks ago, to furnish the Government with a report detailing the character of the work executed by those labourers in the South, where they had been principally employed.

In answer to this request Major Freeling at once drew up a report, which was read at the Central Road Board on the 15th December last, and afterwards transmitted to the Government.

Subjoined is a summary of the report, as it appeared in our columns at the time :— 'The Chairman reported that at Selllik's Hill, Grant's Corner, and Second Valley, the men were employed widening the road to 30 feet, and that the money might easily be expended more judiciously, and it was owing to special instructions from himself about a month ago that much of the good done had been effected.

The work was in some parts carelessly and inefficiently performed; trees were cut flush with the road instead of being properly grubbed, stones were left jutting out of the earth in a dangerous manner, that stone of a good quality for metalling was thrown recklessly down the embankment instead of being piled for future use, and to save the expense of cartage, and that within ten miles of Cape Jervis the money was wasted in making a road well beyond all relation to the requirements of the district.

It was in fact wider than any hill road near Adelaide, while there were not more than 150 settlers to be benefited by it.

At least £1,000 had been unnecessarily expended there, which sum could have been advantageously applied to the improvement of a considerable length of road to the general benefit of the district. There were improvements greatly required at Clark's Hill and at the entrance to the township of Yankalilla, to which the money injudiciously expended might have been applied with great advantage to the public.

The report particularized other matters, and recommended that the surplus men should be discharged at the end of the year.

This report seems to have been regarded by the Board as most conclusive against a continuance of the system of employing surplus labour. But it must occur to almost every other reader as it appears to have occurred to the Government - that the carelessness and the recklessness complained of could not nave taken place if the men had been sharply looked after.

The Government have consequently stated in answer to the report that they agree with the desirability of the works being discontinued at Sellick's Hill. But it is added :— 'As the Government do not feel warranted in refusing to employ such men as may apply for work on the ground of being unable to find employment with private per sons - the alternative being destitution, and the issue of rations at the public expense - the Commissioner wishes the Breakneck Hill improvements to be open for the employment of such persons.

Already there are indications of the recurrence of the pressure for employment, and such as have applied have been promised tickets on Monday next. It was therefore requested that tools and tents for 60 men and an overseer be dispatched to Break-neck Hill.

The Central Road Board, however, determined to set its face completely against the present system of employing surplus labour, and adopted the subjoined resolution :— 'That in consequence of the special report of the Chairman with regard to works at Sellick's Hill and Second Valley, the Board have arrived at the opinion they had previously expressed, that works carried on under the system of employing surplus labour does not tend to the credit of the Board, is not advantageous to the general interests of the colony, and is not calculated to make the best of the funds placed at the disposal of the Board, and that if the same amount of money had been expended in the usual way (that is by contract) it would have absorbed the same amount of labour, and a much greater amount of work would have been accompanied by the expenditure of the same amount of money and they suggest that a similar examination be made of other public works in the colony conducted under the same system, as they believe the same results will ba apparent in other than in the South District.

At present, therefore, the case between the Central Road Board and the Government stands thus :- The Board would prefer having the funds now spent through its officers on surplus labour disposed of on works regularly contracted for, believing that the same amount would still be spent in wages, whilst there would be more to show for the money. And the Government, on the other hand, believe that such a course would not meet the pressure upon them for employment, but that many of the men now at work might be rejected by contractors, and thus be thrown upon the public funds for support.

As we have intimated, however, it does not at present appear that the badness of the work executed is the fault of the surplus labour system, nor - even if that were proved - is it easy to understand how the contract plan would meet the difficulty which the Government have to deal with, but which the members of the Board, in their laudable anxiety to see all works executed in the best possible manner, apparently overlook.