NO SETTLEMENT YET

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 11

NO SETTLEMENT YET

LYTTELTON TRAWLING DISPUTE THE PHYLLir, BRINGS CATCH TO PORT No settlement having been, reached yesterday in the dispute between the' crews of the trawlers Phyllis and Muriel, and their employers, PFeron and Son, chief interest in Lyttelton during the day centred on the prospective return of the Phyllis frbm the trawling trip on which she sailed at midnight on Monday with a crew. When the Phyllis had not been reported yesterday morning, it was concluded that she would make port later in the day. During the morning the vessel was seen fishing off Port Levy, and this confirmed theories that she would return to her berth after nightfall. At 8.30 pm. the Phyllis passed through the heads, and shortly after 9 o’clock a small crowd had gathered to watch her arrival. These included members of the original crews, a few watersiders. and two police officers. * Greeted With Jeers The arrival of the Phyllis was uneventful. The group waiting on the wharf was orderly and the need for police protection of the unloading was not apparent. As the trawler steamed past the cargo steamer • Kairanga, however, it was greeted with a sally of cat-calls and jeers. The Phyllis returned with a very fair catch —about 64 cases for two days’ fishing, more than three tons of fish. The unloading proceeded as smoothly as it might, considering the inexperience of the vessel’s crew, and the strikers watched with amusement the efforts of the hands at winch-driv-ing and the other operations connected with berthing and unloading. Gear Not Reclaimed No effort was made by the strikers last evening to reclaim their gear, and they were content merely with watching the vessel unload its catch. It was stated by some of the men that the gear, having been used by tb e “scratch” crew, thus became “black” itself, and while the men would not hesitate to reclaim it at a suitable opportunity, it was unlikely that it would be used by them again. , _ In the meantime, the manager of the employing firm, Mr E. J. Newman, persists in his unwillingness to make any comment on the situation. The men are unshaken in their refusal to work on a commission basis as proposed by Mr Newman. This, they consider, places all the risk on their side. Their offer of a compromise having been rejected, they are now determined, to secure their full demands, namely, restoration of the 1931 scale of wages and the elimination of Sunday work.