MASS MEETING BANNED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23744, 16 September 1942, Page 4

MASS MEETING BANNED

Police Action At Huntly AJJL MINES AGAIN IDLE (P.S.S.) AUCKLAND, Sept. 15. A mass meeting of the Waikato miners was banned at Huntly to-day by the police, who acted under the Public Safety Emergency Regulations, 1940. Arrangements to hold the meeting in the Lyceum Theatre at 2 p.m. to-day were made on Monday evening, and it was proposed to discuss the issues causing and arising from the strike. The decision of the Wilton miners td cease work is the only other local development; the position is thus again as it was last Friday, with all the mines idle. Early this morning men came in to Huntly from the outlying mines, and by 1.30 p.m. several hundred had assembled near the theatre. A rumour that the meeting was to be prohibited, followed by the appearance of police officers in uniform and plain clothes, created a stir of excitement. This was intensified when eight members of the union executive went to the police station and returned with a notice, which was posted outside the hall, stating that the meeting had been banned. There were many expressions of resentment and regret, and it was suggested that an outdoor meeting be held, but executive members explained that the ban covered all meetings. Throughout the afternoon the main street was thronged, as groups of men lingered discussing the situation and awaiting information about the outcome of the visit of the Minister of Industrial Manpower (the Hon.. A. McLagan) and the union secretary (Mr T. Hall) to Wellington. Weil-informed observers say that, had the meeting been held to-day, much of this confusion might have been dispelled, and that it would have been no surprise had the men decided to abrogate all the ballot and other decisions and voted for an immediate return to work. Union officials decline to discuss the position, but there is everywhere the frank admission that the present situation cannot be permitted to continue and that a speedy solution to the impasse must be found. The serving of summonses on 196 of the Pukemiro miners, charging them with being parties to an illegal strike, was practically completed by the local police to-day. The men are called to appear in Court at Huntly on Thursday. It is expected that the charges will be taken en masse and that the hall will be converted into a Court, as the Courthouse is too small.