Mr. Seddon made up his mind that there would be no sweating in work undertaken by any of the departments in his charge. He said that the State could pay a fair price for its work, and it was his duty to see that the worker received a fair share of that fair price. He therefore issued strict instructions that the clause in the general terms and conditions of all Government contracts against sub-letting should be strictly observed. For a long time, the clause had been evaded, and the department’s officers had looked upon it as a dead letter. He announced that the engineer-in-charge and the clerk-of-works would not be allowed to recognise sub-contracts at all; and that the sub-letting of work, or having it done as piece-work, would be deemed to be ground for the cancellation of the contract, and heavy penalties would be imposed.
Having satisfactorily disposed of that matter, he inaugurated a system of constructing public works on the co-operative principle, giving the work direct to the workmen and dispensing altogether with the middlemen. He seized an opportunity for introducing this system in connection with the construction of sections of the Ngakawau railway extension to Mokihinui, on the West Coast. Public tenders had been invited for sections of that line. Liberal conditions were offered. Immediately the tenders were accepted, the contracts were relinquished, and he had the choice of calling for fresh tenders on the original method or giving the co-operative principle a trial.
On going to Westport shortly after he had been appointed a Minister, he found there a large number of men who had flocked to the coast from different parts of the colony, expecting to secure employment on that line. To avoid the delay that would be caused if fresh tenders were called for, he decided to let three of the sections on the co-operative principle. He asked the men to divide themselves into three parties of fifty men each, and to select trustees from each party. These trustees were to take the work from the Government in the ordinary way, but the work, he explained, was to be done by the whole of the men, each man having equal rights with all his fellows. He arranged that the price should be fixed by the engineer in charge of the work.
