AWFUL COLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3219, 16 May 1911, Page 7

AWFUL COLD.

WEEPING TEARS OF ICE.. HOW COLD STORAGE WORKERS' SUFFER. A harrowing picture of the conditions under which workers in refrigerating chambers are forced to earn a livelihood was given by William, Stretch, a witness before the Cold Storage Wages Board in Sydney. Stretch, who is an employee of the Fresh Food and Ice Co., described the work of the cold l storage hands in regard to the handling and bagging of sheep and other produce in the storeroom. In slack times the temperature of the store-room, was usually 6 or 7 degrees below zero. In busy times it was from 7 to 10 degrees above zero. To protect himself against the extreme cold, eacli worker had to wear two or three coats, one bn top of the other, as well as a sweater. He 'had! to- wear gloves on his hands and bags round liis feet, and had to tie bagging round bis ears. The men had to provide all these clothes for themselves. The hours of labor were usually from 4 or 5 a.m. to 9 or 10 p.m., or even midnight. The men would! be kept in the cold chambers all that time, with the exception of meal hours. An hour was allowed for breakfast, dinner, and tea, making three in all. In the chambers of the Pastoral Finance Association the air was dry, but in those of the Fresh Food and Ice Co. it was damp. The Chairman (Dr Bressenden) : But surely you don’t say that in a place where the temperature is anywhere near zero the air can be damp? Witness: Yes, when hot sheep are put into the chamber it begins to rain, and you get your clothes wringing wet. Continuing, witness said working in such low temperatures had 1 a bad effect on health.' He: often had to go off work for two or three days through sickness. At times his hands had got so frozen that he had had! to go outside the chamber to thaw them. He had seen men cry with the pain of their frozen hands, when they had ho go out. Mr Croft: It is a wonder they had enough warmth in their body to cry.

Mr Broomfield: Their tears were icicles no doubt.