GOVERNMENT AND THE MINERS

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

GOVERNMENT AND THE MINERS

ENFORCEMENT OF TH* '? LAW

WELLINGTON COMMENT (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 24. “When you cannot control a situation, obviously compromise is the »og : useful alternative," said Mr LesU# Wall, president of the Wellington' Chamber of Commerce, to-day. The. Minister of Mines does not hesitate to bring in new regulations to exclude the owners from the management or their own property, yet apparently the Government is very reluctant to display similar authority in the enforcement of the ordinary course of juJtice. . . “The Minister makes no bones about controlling the owners, but in the safflt interview Mr Webb adds that he has every hope the men will see reason and that the regulations will not have to be brought into force. “It therefore remains to be seen whether the Government, having controlled the owners, will exercise the same authority and control over the miners themselves.” 0 AMARU CHAMBER’S RESOLUTION “AUTHORITY SHOULD BE MAINTAINED ” (0.R.) OAMARU, September 24. The Oamaru Chamber of Commerce, at a special meeting to-day convened to discuss the coal strike in the Wai'_ kato, passed the following resolution;“This Chamber views with concern the proposal to take over the Waikar ■; coalmines, and strongly urges ernment to maintain constitutiWjr authority and to avoid any action panders to those who flout industria, laws. Particularly in time of war calcitrant elements in the community/ must be dealt with firmly, and in the opinion of this chamber the Waikato issue calls for the enforcement of the strike emergency regulations rather than State intervention on the ownership question.” Copies of the resolution have been telegraphed to the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) and to the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer, as member of Parliament for Oamaru.