OFFER TO OWNERS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23752, 25 September 1942, Page 4

OFFER TO OWNERS

REJECTION REPORTED

Though no announcement has been made by the Government, the owners of the coal mines in the Waikato, it is reported, have declined to agree to the Government’s proposals for the State control of their properties for the duration of the war. Their attitude towards the overtures made by the Government is understood to have been that they would not even discuss the proposed terms for State control. The Minister of War Co-ord-ination and Armed Forces (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) and the Minister of Mines (the Hon. P. C. Webb) travelled by air from Wellington to Auckland on Tuesday in company to place the Government’s decisions before the mineowners, and it was known in Parliamentary circles that night that their mission had been a failure. Mr Coates returned to Wellington on Wednesday, but Mr Webb had not returned by last night.

By association with Mr Webb on the visit- to Auckland, Mr Coates is believed to be a supporter of the Government’s decision to take control of the mines and the Hon. A. Hamilton is considered also to be a supporter of the decision. With the Hon. W. J. Poison, the Hon. W. J. Broadfoot, and the Hon. W. A. Bodkin, they remained for the discussion by the War Administration after the Minister of War Expenditure (the Hon. S. G. Holland) had made his statement on Monday night on the failure of the Government to carry out the law in its dealings with the Waikato strikers. Mr Holland left the Cabinet room immediately after making clear his views, in which it is known that he is supported by Messrs Broadfoot, Poison, and Bodkin, who joined the War Administration with him in June.

The resignation from the War Administration of the four Ministers who dissent from the Government’s decisions will undoubtedly be a question to be decided at next week’s caucus of the National Party’s Parliamentary members. Up to the present, the Ministers have continued their administrations, and Mr Holland has also attended daily meetings of the War Cabinet, at which developments in the Waikato strike are reported not to have been further discussed since Monday night. The National Party caucus has been definitely fixed to open on Tuesday night. Because of travel restrictions and the distances some members had to travel, it was not possible to have the meeting earlier, Mr Holland said, when he was questioned in Wellington yesterday. The caucus may be the most momentous held by the National Party. It is umikely that a decision will be made on Tuesday night. Every opportunity for a full discussion will be given.