VIEWS OF MR W. VEITCH, M.P.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XL, Issue 9292, 29 April 1920, Page 5

VIEWS OF MR W. VEITCH, M.P.

WANGANITT April 28. Interviewedl by a "Herald" representative, Mr W. Veitch, M.P., while expressing the view that a serious

mistake had been made in ing the strike, particularly while the Royal visitor is in the Dominion, says he has seen this disaster coming for several years 3 and session after session has ventilated the railwaymen's cause in Parliament. He regretted his efforts had fallen ~ on", dsaf ears, 'Jus complaints /being regarded as party attacks rather than an honest attempt Co avert impending trouble. Such was party politics, to which New Zealand owed -many of the present difficulties. The chief reasons for the strike were that after, a number of years of patiient endeavour by constitutional means the railwaymen had found working conditions becoming more and more irksome. Depletion of the staff by enlistment and afterwards by large numbers of resignations had! imposed long working hours on the remaining men, who -were feeling the effects of overwork. Mr Veitch added that the only solution was the increase of wages to a standard that would prevent further resignations; an increase of wages to juniors in order to induce young men to undertake railway work, the provision of housing accommodation/ and a more sympathetic understanding on the part of the administration.

A stop-work meeting of the Eastiowii branch of-the A.S.R.S., held'this morning, strongly favoured siding with the .strikers, but accepted advice by the chairman to carry/ on pending instructions from the executive at Wellington. The men stated that they would cease work immediately if any attempt were made to force them.