NO SUNDAY WORK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 166, 28 April 1947, Page 4

NO SUNDAY WORK

Australian Topics

CLAIMS OF GAS EMPLOYEES I T . PLAN TO CREATE SHORTAGE '(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) XRec. 11.35 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The Federal Council of the Gas Employees’ Union has decided on a plan of allowing no overtime or Sunday work, the effect of which would he to bring an immediate shortage of gas in all States. The plan was decided in Melbourne, and is now being discussed by State branches. The decision of the council was that the plan would operate on May 12 unless in the meantime double rates of pay were granted for Sunday work, or unless the emergency committee of the Australasian Council of Trade Unions produces a more militant scheme. It has not yet been decided whether the New South Wales branch will call a mass meeting of union members to vote on the plan, which could be put into operation without such meeting. * * * * * A New Zealand process for the manufacture of concrete roofing tiles hae: come to the rescue of Australian home builders. The factory recently established in Sydney with machinery manufactured in Melbourne on the New Zealand pattern is now in full production, and has secured an immediate contract from the Housing Commission for 1,000,000 tiles. These will be ready in June. The tiles are manufactured on the strip principle, and are available in all colours. The State Minister of Housing said last night that the end of the tile shortage was in sight, and that many houses which had been without roofs for months would soon be completed. An Adelaide*message says that the mystery of the complete destruction of Kongorong Methodist Church near Mount Gambier is unexplained. The church was standing on Thursday/but late, that night a Kongorong resident, driving home, found his car had suddenly become entangled in telephone wires lying across the road. An investigation revealed that the church was a mass of ruins, with the wreckage scattered 300 yards away. Only the porch remained. Local residents reported that they had heard nothing unusual, and that the weather was cool and calm. The only explanation is that a freak cyclone caused the damage.