DISPUTE ON MATANGI.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1926, Page 8

DISPUTE ON MATANGI.

VESSEL'S TRIP CANCELLED. CREW SIGNED OFF. A BELATED ACTIOX. •Ulecino- that one of their number had acted 1is D a loyalist during the New Zealand seamen's strike three years ago, the crew of the Northern Steamship Company's steamer Matangi refused to take their vessel out of port at sailing time last evening. Efforts to bring about a settlement proved unavailing and the steamer's trip to Tauranga has been abandoned. A new crew will now be signed on and she will take her departure to-morrow evening. The Matangi was scheduled to sail for Tauranga at 7 o'clock last evening, but about thirty minutes before that hour the seamen and firemen of the vessel informed the master (Captain Dorling) that they objected to one of the sailors and asked that he should be dismissed. When this request was refused the men walked ashore in a body. Officials of the company endorsed the master's „ action, and at half-past ten o'clock the vessel's departure was postponed until to-day. On hearing this announcement the crew returned to their ship, whilst a number of the passengers left the vessel and went back to their homes. The member of the Matangi's crew to whom objection was taken has been with the Northern Co. for many years, having been on the Matangi for the past three years. He is regarded as a very efficient member of the steamer's crew. The Northern Co. stated this afternoon that in view of the fact that a settlement had not been arrived at, the crew would be signed off and a new one signed on. The company announced that the steamer will now sail for Tauranga to-morrow evening.