MINERS FIRM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 94, 20 April 1940, Page 10

MINERS FIRM.

CONTINUE FIGHT.

Prime Minister's Appeal Is Unavailing. DISPUTE IN AUSTRALIA. United l'ro?s Association.—Copyright. (Received 10 Ji.ni.) SYDNEY, this-day. Coal miners' officials organised and carried out a boycott of the meeting of the Prime Minister, Mr. K. G. Mcnzies, at. Kurri yesterday. Instead the miners followed their leaders to a local Sports ground, where they listened to addresses on the need for solidarity. Mr. Menzies, however, took the pintform ;it the local school of nils, where upward of 2l)0() private citizens and business men gave him a rousing reception. Mr. Mcnzies mentioned that pressure had been brought on the chairman preventing him from presiding at his meeting. He expressed regret that the | miners had seen tit to boycott his I address in a district which hitherto had been traditionally loyal. He emphasised that he had not tome to make threats, but merely to appeal to tie miners to appreciate their responsibilities at the most critical time in the Empire's history, and determine to put things that really matter first. Mr. Menzies compared the lot of men in action in Norway, France and elsewhere with the conditions which the coal millers sought to bring about here, and declared that the coal strike in the present circumstances was a betrayal of the true interests of .Australia. He told the meeting he was prepared to accept the miners' challenge, which was tantamount to defiance of the Commonwealth Government. He would go to the sports ground and seek to deliver the address whcli he intended to deliver in Kurri. He left the hall amid prolonged cheering. Miners Addressed. The Prime Minister, upon arrival at the sports ground, where "3000 strikers were gathered, was forced to wait until the miners' leaders finished their speeches before he could obtain l hearing. He was considerably heckled, but was able to explain that he came with no threats.' He'then continued along the lines of his earlier meeting, when he urged the men to have recourse to the Arbitration Court. When asked what the Government intended to do in the event of the strike being prolonged a couple of months, Mr. Menzies told the inqitrrer: "We .have done a lot of thinking, .and we. have got a clear mind upon it." The miners passed a resolution repudiating the threats. by the Federal and State Goyernments and pledging loyalty to their leaders and a determination to carry the fight to a successful conclusion. Mr. Menzies. left the scene saying that he had had quite an interesting afternoon.