SEAMEN'S SQUABBLE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18912, 29 January 1927, Page 9

SEAMEN'S SQUABBLE.

STATEMENT BY MR YOUNG. [THE PRESS Special Service.] Wellington, January 28. "I wish to make a statement to go forward to the workers of this Dominion," said Mr W. T. Young, to a reporter to-day. "The statement regarding my alleged deposition comes that has existed on y »nce Tuesday evening last-a body ot whw& T wis not at any time a member, let abne B an°offiti" I am retary of the Federated Tlnion of New Zealand, a body estaD Shed ia 1881, and first regM der the Trades Unions, Act in 1885Our general president is Mr u » Fittes, our treasurer Mr Duncan Cm rie, our two vice-presidents are Messrs E. Browne and J. Payne, and the as sistant secretary is Mr Frank Howell. The Federated Seamen's Union of New Zealand alone possesses the rieht, to denose anv of its officers through conanswers the a legations> under the head of 'bogus union.' But. I may mention that our organisation is a national body, possessing national rules, ana giving to its members national rights, and it invests in the members themselves the absolute right to control the organisation in place of members being dictated to by a small coterie whethei the latter be designated the 'executive council' or otherwise. ~,-+;= "In regard to the funds which it is alleged were illegally transferred i havl to state that the money referred to, and also a little that has been added to it. stands to the credit at the bank of the,men who own it, and tliat is not F. P. Walsh and Co. We are trustees of that money, to be honesty used for the purposes of the men wuo *°"ln regard to the question of handinnr the keys to some alleged commission on Tuesday last, a number of men, between 60 and 70, came to the olhce, headed by Mr Wnlsh and seven other prominent men. They read to me irresolution of an alleged meeting of seamen that had been held, and demanded that I hand over the keys property in the office. I refused to do so, ' being the legal custodian or everything in the office, and as the result I was forcibly ejected by a man who is not a member of the Wellington Seamen's Union. The general president and Mr Payne were also ejected bv force. Subsequently, the visitors broke through two doors leading to the inner office, which were locked. "Tn conclusion, I wish to say to the working men and women of the Dominion, who know me in the political and industrial Labour movement for the past twenty-eight years, that nothing of a bogus nature exists, and that the funds arc perfectly safe in the hands of the men who are the trustees for those owning the money.