Page Two THE BCG LUMB ER WORKER LETTERS “Every Reader Nitinat Lake Boys Organized ‘To the Editor: Hi ya, Brothers! From the misty low- lands of Nitinat Lake, we send in another report and it may contain anything but the horrid melodies of the “Hut Sut” song. It's been pretty warm up here, and speaking of warmth brings back mem- ories of the summer shutdowns, alcoholic beverages and the much-abused “jokers.” It seems that a number of the crew of this camp are obsessed with the curse of the heavenly thirst and on their way back to camp proceeded to paint a certain town a deep purple, at the same time having utter contempt for their outer clothes. _ Well, to cut the story short, the bun- wagon in this unnamed town was so busy, the management and the bun-de- partment came to an understanding of some kind. Result: They sent the bun- wagori to camp to be used for transporta- tion and now there is complete peace and harmony, even between a certain fizzie cat-driver and a shorty-shorts whirlwind. Enough of trifles; now down to business! ‘We held our monthly meeting recently and elected a camp committee and a safety-first committee. Grievances in regards to better lunches and breakfast were brought up. We in- terviewed the management in this respect and being a very understanding person, he promised to rectify this situation im- mediately. The result was a better va- riety of lunches and the sudden appear- ance of canned foods with lunches. The cook—being of royalty, or something—or nothing—does not exactly love loggers and began to get hot under the cerebul- lum layer, but it rained that very night and apoplexy was averted. This is a truck camp running a track- side and a’ cat-side and though not or- ganized one hundred percent, it has good prospects, The transportation is good and snappy and the wages are fair in some respects, but in no way do the wages or the rigging equal other camps on the Island, We receive the Lumber Worker in this camp and believe me, the boys certainly welcome it, Sending a gay “Fansolott” to a gang at Olsen’s camp, towards a better or- ganization. Yours fraternally, CAMP COMMITTEE, NITINAT LAKE LOG. GIBSONS CAMP ENJOYS INCREASE ‘To the Editor: Following is the scale of wages being paid here at Gibson's Camp, Chamis Bay, since the increase was granted, effective July 1. Hook and Rig Steam Engineer $8.50 per day AO el eee Gas Engineer OOD Rigging Slinger - 650" Chaser 1 bre-6 |» Chokermen ine. Fireman re ea Signalman 525" " ‘Woodbucker . 5.00 “ Strapman . aC ia Boomman SB DOE) Falling (By Day) ~ 650%" Falling (Contract) - -$ .70 and .10 Charge for Board and Blankets $1.35 per day It was a general 50 cents increase ex- cept in a couple of categories. Fallers got a oost of 5 cents per M, and board was not raised. Fraternally yours, Card CL 349. Camp Comments a Correspondent” REPOR Logger Claims Esperanza aa" Most Haywire Outfit Yet To the Edito1 Regarding work and wages and boys hiring out to Esperanza Logging Company near Rock Bay, either day work or contract: First of all, the rigging is haywire. on the whole claim. The wife wears th There isn’t a really good piece of line ie pants. Two men quit off the A-frame and said she fired the rest of the crew, even the whistle punk, while her husband was in Vancouver. the A-frame crew was just getting aboa That is what the fallers told me. When I got off the boat rd; one of the boys said I was a sucker as I didn’t know what I was getting into and it would cost me a week of hard labor to get out of there. It did. Three others and myself were working on con- tract or rather four of us quit off our contract. The rest stayed. We were loading out of a lake, 3 When I hired out of Vancouver I was given 8 cents per M and when I got to the job I got a raise of 2 cents to 10 cents a thousand, This was supposed to have been a government scale contract. When we quit he wanted to give us an average tally of 4,000 feet to the load but we held out for 5,000 feet to the load; even then we were giving him the best of the deal but it was worth it to get out of there as fast as possible. We got 5,000 feet for our average load, He nearly cried when he gave in. One of our boys had a pair of boots sent ahead to Rock Bay. The idea was for the Esperanza Log Co. to pay for them and then charge him out ,of his wages. The bosses went to Rock Bay two or three times and each time returned with- out the boots. They said Merril & Ring wouldn’t take a cheque and there wasn't enough cash in camp to pay for the boots. The lad then dug an old pair of boots out from under the bunkhouse. They had really made their last stake, and had rubbed the fellow’s feet and legs raw. I guess Esperanza has so many men com- ing and going that they couldn’t trust a man to work long enough to pay off a pair of boots. If I had to, I could, by memory, draw a blueprint on which would be an exact location of nearly all the big bedbugs that were logging on my poor tired frame. I understand from, men who seem to know that the most of the bunichouses were used by the old Hastings Logging outfit years ago. Without a word of a lie on my part, I can truly say that the bunkhouses are the dirtiest I have ever been forced to live in. The office build- ing has moss on its roof an inch thick. Pretty soon some enterprising lad will try to plant potatoes in the moss. ‘The boat that brings the boys from Rock Bay is in constant peril of stopping or sinking, The boat on the lake that takes the fallers to work has a rudder, but it doesn’t work, You have to steer it with a pike-pole or oar. Jack O'Neil, the man who has the con- tract for loading, hauling and booming, gets $1.25 a thousand. The head loader gets 14 cents a thousand, and the second loaders get 10 cents each per thousand and the two truck drivers get 14 cents a thousand; the boom-men get 25 cents a thousand, O'Neill gets 38 cents a thou- sand. He also runs the levers and bosses the head loader when he can get away with it, and steals approximately $2.00 per load from us as well as clearing his 38 cents a thousand. The first aid man is the cook, which is a woman. The Money To Loan {On Men's Suits, Overcoats, Logging Boots and Sleeping Bags. 4 4 ‘ San Francisco Tailors , 62 WEST HASTINGS ST. 4 (4 Doors West of Beacon Theatre) 4LL WORK GUARANTEED SERVICE JEWELERS s s s s 4 Dealers in Diamonds A Watches and Jewelry s ; u U is EXPERT WATCH AND JEWELRY REPAIRING H, ZLOTNIK, Manager u #28 E. HASTINGS ST. VAN,, B.C. 4 only good thing about the place is the food. All this is true. There are four of us to prove this. This camp is like a certain disease—it runs itself. Yours for extermination, ONE-WHO-GOT-BITTEN. Mill Production Practically Reaching Capacity The weekly average for West Coast lumber production in June was 157,920,000 board feet, or 99.1 per cent of estimated capacity. Orders averaged 179,256,000 board feet. The industry’s unfilled order file stood at 813,988,000 board feet at the end of June, according to the Seattle P.-I. The demand was reported strong, partic- ularly on high grades, although the withdrawal of intercoastal shipping from normal trade lanes is causing trouble. An end to millionaires’ profits and luxuries! . . . A decent life for labor! Join Your Friends at COURTENAY HOTEL Headquarters” “The Loggers’ G.TATER - - PROP. Courtenay, V.1L. BINGO & DANCIN at the Swedish Community Hall 1320 Hast Hastings St. _ BINGO 8:30 DANCING 9 to 2 Music by HELGE ANDERSON EVERY SATURDAY ADMISSION 25 CENTS KELLY’S CAMPS, Q.C.1. rigging crew is finished and mo Church Creek now. The fallers at Cl Creek are moving to Lagoon Inlet. MORGAN’S CAMP, Cumshewa Ii is just about finished for the season. 'P first aid man in this camp gave the best first aid services that have so far found. ALLISON'S CAMP, Cumshewa Inlet, is reported to have shut down one side ow- ing to shortage of crew. He is now offer- ing to pay the fare down for the men who > stay with him until Christmas. This — company is reported to be changing its policy toward union activity in camp, — and have given permission for the men _ to use the cookhouse for meetings, ; PACIFIC MILLS, Camp B-40, has moved from Queen Charlotte City to Port Clement. CARSTAIRS CAMP is moving from Rivers Inlet to Queen Charlotte City, Fallers and the cold deck crews are ex- pected to be working there about Oct, 1. LEE & GENBERG, Devon Station Channel, is about finished now. ‘There are 25 men in the crew, and general con- ditions are rated as good. Wages paid as follows: Fireman, woodsplitter, and woodbucker, $5.00, chokers, $5.60; chas- ers, $6.00; rigging slinger, $7.20; straight hooking, $8.00; and hook and rig, $9.00. Fallers on day wages. RICHARDSON & HAYWARD, Alert Bay, is a small outfit, sort of a family affair, with just one set of fallers. LOOSE LAKE LOG, Simoon Sound, is reported to provide very poor camp con- ditions; no bedmaker, no dryhouse, and plenty of room for improvement all round. OLSON LOG CO., Olson's Landing, Since the crew was successful in gaining the 50¢ increase which they went after, following are the rates paid on the rig- ging. Hook and rig (slackline, $9.00; hook and rig (coldeck), $8.50; hooker only (A frame), $7.50; engineers, $7.50; rigging slinger (slackline), $7.00; rigging slinger (coldeck), $6.50; chasers (A frame), $6.25; chasers (slackline), $6.00; chasers (coldeck), $5.90; chokermen, $5.70; boommen, $6.00; signalmen, $5.00. — OCEAN TIMBER CO., formerly run by Japanese interests gt the foot of Lake Cowichan, is now being run by the Lake Logging Co. Join the IWA and Help Boost Pees ag 2 Moderate 444 Carrall Street Hotel West Ltd. FRED R. MARCHESE, Mer. é - a . Centrally Located a . PAc. 8374 — PAc. 8375 Our Pay a Buck a Day! Rates and