MINERS REFUSE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 59, 19 December 1945, Page 3

MINERS REFUSE

NO CURTAILMENT OF HOLIDAYS RATIONING TO CONTINUE (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 12.30 p.in.) SYDNEY, This Day. Because the coalminers have declined to cut short their Christ- ' mas holidays by five days, the end of restrictions in the use of electricity and gas is not in sight. It is likely, however, that housewives will be allowed to use gas between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to cook dinner on Christmas Day. Trams will again stop running in Sydney at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and will not resume until Monday morning. The miners begin their Christmas holidays on Friday night, and all pits will be closed for 16 days. A request that the miners forego portion of their holidays was made by the State Minister of Mines (Mr Baddeley). He asked the Central Executive of the Miners’ Federation whether it would agree to cut the period so that the miners would resume on January 2, instead of January 7. The Executive replied that it was unable to do so.

Mr Baddeley then asked whether the Executive objected to him personally contacting the various New South Wales districts, and it did not object to this. Each district thereupon refused to accept the proposal. A committee of leaders of the Trade Union movement has been set up to make plans to combat Communism in unions, says an announcement at the Trades Hall. By means of literature and teams of speakers, the committee hopes to reach the rank and-file members of unions at present dominated by Communist officials.

A Melbourne message -reports that the militants failed in their attempt to capture control of the executive of the Melbourne Trades Hall Council. Jl a ballot there was a three-to-one majority in favour of anti-Communist candidates for executive offices.