P. AND T. BALLOT. LOCAL BUTTER MARKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 84, 8 April 1922, Page 6

P. AND T. BALLOT.

LOCAL BUTTER MARKET.

A SOLEMN WARNING. LETTER FROM THE MINSTER(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. ! The following letter has been forwarded by the Hon. J. G. Coates, Post-master-General, to Mr. Comb*;, secretary jof the Poet and Telegraph Officers' Association : — '■As the recent ballot taken by the New Zealand Poet and Telegraph Officers' Association decided in favour of linking up with the Alliance of Labour, and as it has been stated in the Press that yon propose to take steps forthwith to join up with that body, I beg to inform you that the Government views such a step with serious disfavour and one which it is not prepared to countenance under any consideration. "'Obviously an association, whose members are officers of the State pledged to serve the whole public, cannot be allowed to be allied with an outside organisation, and such alliance must prove a grave danger to the State, as the officers would be placed in a position of obeying the authority of the Government or that , of the alliance. The interests of the public require that the service should be free from interference by any outeide body and subject to the control only of the State it serves. "The question ie therefore a matter for serious consideration by individual members of the service. Ea*-h and every 1 officer should realise that the efficiency of the department and probably his own personal welfare depend upon the next step being taken in the right direction. It must be clearly understood that the Government cannot agree to any officer Of the Post and Telegraph Department endeavouring to serve the Government and at the same time the Alliance of Labour. "Members of the association should be notified to this effect, and the result conrnrnnieated to mc at the earliest possible date. A copy of this memorandum is. sent to the Press and to the controlling officers of the department for the information of the otaff as a whole."