Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1934. THE SHIPPING HOLD-UP.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 257, 11 August 1934, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1934. THE SHIPPING HOLD-UP.

The whole country will be relieved if the end of the hold -up in the shipping industry should be brought about as a sequel to the release of the seventy seamen who were, sentenced at Greymouth this week for refusing to take their vessels to sea, but there will be i some comment regarding the irregularity of the procedure. In announcing the release of the men, the Minister of Justice (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) said it had been represented to him that Mr Walsh was desirous of being given an opportunity of interviewing the men collectively when they arrived at Paparua Prison, and he desired to know, should they be agreeable to return to their ships, whether the Government would agree to their release from prison. Mr Walsh was informed that all facilities would be afforded him to address the men, but that no undertaking could be given in the matter of their release. If the men were prepared to return to their ships their wish to do so and the question of their release would be represented to the magistrate for his recommendation. If the effect of the release be that the hold-up ceases, the irregular manner of the attainment of such a desirable result becomes secondary to the object achieved, but it is not on principle the more defensible. Another aspect that will receive attention is the general attitude of the executive of the Seamen's Union regarding dispute. As the "Otago Daily Times" says, in its comment on the situation: "As the holding-up of ships at various ports began before the trouble occurred at Greymouth, and did not arise out of it, a very pertinent question remains as to the effect, if any, of the settlement of that particular episode on the general position. Presumably the reasons which have actuated the seamen in the adoption of the tactics which have been so largely pursued by them remain unaffected If the executive of the Seamen s Union was able to intervene effectually to secure the release of the men sentenced at Greymouth it is reasonable to suppose that it might have had sufficient authority to prevent them, or-seamen in any other port, from refusing to work of the ships."