"CHAOTIC."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 193, 15 August 1936, Page 16

"CHAOTIC."

RULING CONDITIONS.

AUCKLAND FISHERMEN.

HEARING OF DISPUTE.

Said to have existed since 1933, a fishermen's dispute was heard in part before Mr. P. Hally, Conciliation Commissioner, in conciliation council yesterday afternoon. No settlement was reached. The conditions of the industry were described by Mr. T. F. Anderson, representing the Seamen's Union, aa "more or less chaotic." He pointed out that the Auckland fishing fleet was undoubtedly the largest operating from any port in the Southern Hemisphere. For the employers Messrs. W. E. Andeuson and A. F. Jagger and Captain R. C. Hammond appeared as assessors, while Messrs. F. A. Trainer, R. Smith, and J. H. Waite, with Mr. T. F. Anderson, represented the union. About thirty boatowners and fishermen engaged on a share basis of payment were also present.

"Undoubtedly the largest fishing fleet sailing out of any port in the Southern Hemisphere operates from Auckland, where I imagine the capital invested in the industry does not fall far short of £250,000, yet ruling conditions are more or less chaotic," said Mr. Anderson, for the union. An award made in 1929 had been cancelled in 1932 on the application bf the employers. For a long period trawlers were out of commission or ran only intermittently, the bulk of the fishing being done by smaller vessels using seine net methods. Eventually larger and more efficient vessels of this type were built; the present number aproaclied fifty, with capacities varying from 30 to 260 baskets. Men engaged in the industry numbered 280.

Need for Stabilisation. "There is an almost complete absence of regulation of wages and conditions for the workers, and as a result cutthroat competition in prices-exists," Mr. Anderson went on. "To stabilise industry the first essential step is to regulate wages and conditions, and in the interests of all it is to be hoped that employers will face this fact."

Support of tlie move for a standard rate of pay for seine fishermen was expressed by a representative of men employed on eight boats. He contended that an award for this section of the industry should he drafted separately from one covering trawler employees, maintaining that regulated conditions were possible. Other speakers, however, stated that the majority of workers would prefer the present share basis to wages. Mr. W. E. Anderson thought a settlement could be reached without difficulty. On the request of the commissioner, Mr. Hally, the fishermen retired while the assessors conferred, and it was announced that a meeting would be held on August 28 to appoint a sub-committee of fishermen to place the position before employers, or, if necessary, before the Arbitration Court during the present session.