CARGO WORKING

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 226, 23 September 1922, Page 7

CARGO WORKING

IN AUCKLAND HARBOUR. EXPERTS GIVE EVIDENCE. BEFORE ARBITRATION COCRT. During the hearing of the Watersiders' dispute by the Arbitration Court, sitting in Wellington, ithc following evidence as ito Auckland conditions wo-3 given:—■ Thomas O'Connor said' that to overload a truck was dangerous; he had seen accidents through heavy trucks upending. An improvement had been effected in Auckland through fruit merchants now having a separate mark. Nicholas Saunders said he had been working on the waterside at Auckland for fifteen or sixteen years. The Disputes Committee had " done excellent service, an<d employers and men worked most harmoniously upon it. Witness had up dozens? of disputes without going to the employers at all. Mr. Roberts: I understand that you have been frequently complimented 1 and not cursed by the employers in Auckland ? Witness: There is not an employer in Auckland -who has not complimented mc for the work I did w"hdle president of tlie union. Proceeding, witness said that the w>oTk done on the waterfront to-day was aa good, if not better, than that performed before the war. Asked to give the names of vesscils worked at Auckland, the witness mentioned a dozen names at express sppe^ l . His Honor interceded on behalf of the official recorder, and remarked to the witness that as a g*oo<l' unionist ho should not overwoTtk that officer. Mr. Roberts: He has been used to that pace in Auckland, your ITon-or. Witness «tid that the custom was •for the waterside workers to leave th • Auckland side at 8 a..m., and tihe companies returned them at 10 p.m. There wa.s no -place than-dy to the Western Wharf at Auckland where men could get meals. There h-a<l never been any complaints from the cmiployeT3 in Auckland concerning atop-work meetings, wnicJi were held from 8 to 10 on tihe first Tuesday in endh month. They did not have stop work funerals in Auckland, but the union always sent a wreath, and one or two officers of the union attended the funeral. Mr. Robert's: 'Have you many "<Ttuds" in 3"otit ranks in Auckland? Witness: We 'have n. few, hut no more than are to be found in the ranks of the pannikin bosses. Mr. Smith: You pay that there no friction with the Disputes Committee in Auckland. Were 3xm on the committee in Mr. Green's time? Witness: No. thank God. Charles Wheeler said he had been working on the Auckland waterfront for eight years. Coal work was danJTeroU", and six men were required on tlie gangs. Carrying coal was not lit work for picn. ■an.l if the rate* were reduced he did not think the companies would get m»n f> [do it. He had worked in coal hid a temperature of 1 1 ■"> degrees. MiI opinion was that there sliouhl ''<* a rcdu-tion of ten ,>cr cent in the ternpcrature at which coal -i.oiibi bo werked. (*...;] at "S degrees was very hi*t, and affected the fret of tie.-o \>>rkiiiL* it. He it was dangerous to work coal in wet warier. Oliver Nonkes -aid he had lrf-on president <*f the Auekl.-i.nd L'nion f..r two years, and one year was walking delegate. He eon side r-d that tho hmiTs for (he engagement 'if labour should l-n reduced, as the. pn-ent system kept m. n harming about from 7.-'SO a.m. until ?, p.m. Mr. Smith: Could t'ne employers -7.-i.rrv on without an afternoon fall? Witness: Ve..s, the omipaniies kmvw what car to has to ho shifted. It only needs a little organisation. Is not this re<|tie-t to do away with fie afternoon call an attempt to forco the employers to engage nun on tJu* off :-han."*e?—Certainly not. Do the men in Auckland always t.iko a ballot before knocking off work on account of wet weather? —Yes. Do you reinemln-r a case where IhH wntenddrrs took a ballot, and derided that it was wet, although it was a perfectly fine div'r—l do not think there are any p oplc so silly as that in Auckland. Mi". Smith >-.iid thi-i had actually occurred, nii.l Mr. r: lover, who v.as in Auckland at tic- time, had ntnojied it. Mr. (Hover said the m.-n' ron'-.r.-ej were not merrilier-i of the union. Hii Honor t-aid it *j.* dcsirallle that this hanging about by \'.<■ mm in tbe hope of getting work should be minimised if prwAblc. He thought the companies might help the. unions in -tlus matteT. Frank Stanley said ho "had tihinty yearV experience of work on the waterfront, and had been a foreman for several years. There might, he said 1 , have been a falling-off in tihe tonnage loaded per hour during the war years, on account of so many of tihe best ■watersiders having gone to "the front, but today they had got right back to prewar standard, ii tbey iha<i not cxceode4 it: ._- --^-X