SENTENCES TO BE SUSPENDED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23756, 30 September 1942, Page 2

SENTENCES TO BE SUSPENDED

MINERS CONVICTED AT HUNTLV STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 29. The sentence of one month’s imprisonment on some 180 Waikato miners is to be suspended on strict conditions, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) announced to-day. The conditions each of the men is to enter into are: —(1) that he will forthwith resume his former employment and diligently follow it; (2) that for the duration of the present war with Germany and Japan he will abstain from taking part in any further strike within the meaning of Clause 2 of the Strike and Lock-out Emergency Regulations, 1939; (3) that for the duration of such war he will not encourage any other person to take part in any such strike affecting any industry essential for the public welfare. The suspension has been approved by the Governor-General. On any breach of the conditions the suspension will become void and of no effect, and thereupon the sentences of imprisonment will forthwith be served, “The Waikato coalmines dispute has caused the Government grave concern during the last three weeks,” said Mr Fraser. “In peace time a strike was a serious and disastrous matter. During this period of the war, with the enemy threatening our shores, the stoppage of work on such a scale was a tragic calamity weakening our wareffort and endangering our defence. “It is therefore gratifying that even after a most regrettable delay the common sense of the men concerned reasserted itself so definitely as it did last Friday in the ballot decision to resume work and submit the matter originally in dispute to the appropriate disputes committee, as Mr Webb, on behalf of the Government, had instructed at the commencement of the trouble.” . Mr Fraser added that it was obvious to everyone that if the strike had continued not only railways and shipping would have had to be further curtailed, but many essential industries would have been closed down or seriously curtailed in their operation, while it would have been necessary to have drastically rationed gas and electricity. “Catastrophe Prevented”

The resumption of work had prevented an industrial catastrophe of great magnitude, which would have directly and disastrously affected New Zealand’s war effort. Mr Fraser said that the course now being followed with the miners who had been convicted was essential, having regard to the requirements of the war situation and to the most urgent need for coal and transport to move supplies to the theatre of war in the Pacific and to keep the Dominion’s war industries functioning. The utmost efforts had been made by Mr Webb to prevent the development 1 of the dispute, and later the Magistrate (Mr W. H. Freeman) had striven to shape the course of events so that on the one hand the law would be upheld and on the other coal production would be immediately resumed to meet the urgent national need, which was by far the most important end to be achieved: it was only after failure to achieve that most essential purpose that the Magistrate was left with no alternative but to pronounce sentence. “It is a fair assumption," continued Mr Fraser, “that had the men prior to the penalties being imposed been willing to return to work under definite conditions, that would have been satisfactory to the Court. A regrettable feature of the situation is that the miners made their decision to return to work after instead of before sentence.” The Government had approached the further development of the problem in the same spirit as was displayed by the Court, and in view of the fact that there had been a general resumption of work, it had agreed to recommend to the Governor-General that the sentences be suspended on the conditions as stated. The position now, was that the law was upheld, the-men had returned to work, and coal production, so vital to the war effort, had been fully resumed.