AUSTRALIAN STRIKES

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24742, 6 December 1945, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN STRIKES

Power Rationing In N.S.W.

DRASTIC EFFECTS ON INDUSTRY

(t'.Z Press Association— Copyright)

(Rec. 11 p.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 5 From midnight, electricity supplied to 500,000 premises, and gas supplied to 200,000 homes, factories and shops in New South Wales will be rationed on a scale without precedent in the history of the State. The Sydney "Sun" says that between -ifIO.OOO and 400,000 Sydney workshop and factory employees w'H lose their jobs to-night as th'e result of rationing, and by the week-end the number will have

grown to 500,000,

The impact on industry will be far more serious than during the Bunnerong dispute in October. .Industries not' affected then, but now on the banned list, include beer, ice cream cakes, pastry, biscuits, and processed breakfast goods and cereals. Under the restrictions, gas and electricity may be used for hospitals, clinics, medical and dental practices, the care of the sick, aged and infirm persons, the dis-' uensing of medicine, public utilities the processing, refrigeration or pre- . servation of foodstuffs, the printing of newspapers, wireless, broadcasting lifts, and church services. No gas or electricity may be used for advertisement or signs, radiators or air heaters hot water systems, sink heaters bath heaters, outdoor sports, the manufacture and processing of non-essential foodstuffs, or in any warehouse shop factory, theatre, or public hall, except for' essential services. The restrictions mean that thousands of housewives will have to do their weekly wash in cold water. Commercial laundries cannot function ex-| cept for hospital work. No heating of' bath water is permitted. . All rail and tram services will be cut from to-morrow. The tram services will be reduced by 20 per cent Hundreds of motor-trucks will bring emergency food supplies to Sydney if the cosl strike continues. The road j transport pool established during the war has agreed with the State Government to organise a road service for this purpose. The Communists received another rebuff to-day, when an overwhelming majority of building workers in the metropolitan area ignored a one-day stoppage in the building industry ordered bv the union to discuss improved conditions and wages. The president of the Miners'. Federation (Mr H. Wells) said that the central executive had decided not to extend the miners' strike to other states yet because of the conference . to be held at Canberra this afternoon. No decision would be made until the Canberra talks had beeri concluded. • Union leaders involved in the steel, coal, and shipping strikes believe that a settlement formula will emerge from the conference to-day with Mr Chifley, but the opinion in well-informed Federal quarters is that there is no possibility of Mr Chifley giving way • or. any vital issue. The belief in Canberra is that undue importance has been attached in Sydney to the fact that Mr Chifley agrzed to receive a delegation organised by the Australasian Council of Trade Unions. Since taking the Prime Ministership. Mr Chifley has had his door almost continually open to the representatives of major sections ol

. ths community who claimed that they hj d a case to state on a particular '. qurstion with which the Government was concerned. Numbers of these de-

putations have gone away without any '.saisfaction, except that of a courteous JF-erinE!. In the present dispute itself, ;. jir has already shown that the " racer t? on of the delegation does not nv n th°t he Is willing to concur with s-y strike settlement proposals that the* d°pL't?tion might make.

RUSSIA MASTERS V ATOM SECRET

CLAIM IN POLISH REPORT

NEW YORK, December 4.

A dispatch from Warsaw to the Polish Press Agency in New York quoted the Polish Under-Secretary of State iMr Herman) as saying: "The ftomic bomb is no longer the property of any one nation. The Soviet Union, which leads in scientific research, has conquered atomic energy."

DEATH SENTENCE ON JAPANESE

MASSACRE OF ALLIED PRISONERS

<<Rec. 10.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 5. : Found guilty of the massacre of 47 Allied prisoners of war at Miro, Sarawak, on June 10. 1945, a Japanese ser-geant-major, Tsuruo Sugino, has been sentenced to be shot. The verdict, announced by an Australian military 'court at Labuan, Borneo, must be confirmed by the Governor-General of Australia. The massacres took place during a grim death march along the coast of ■Borneo on the day the Australian 91+ Division landed on Labuan Island. Chinese who witnessed the massacre said that the prisoners included Europeans, Eurasians, and Indians. The prosecution said that Sugino was in charge of the death march. In a statement read to the Court, Sugino said the party of 32 prisoners was five miles and a half from Min when one prisoner started running. He ©rdered the guard to open fire on all the prisoners in the group. Many of the prisoners were killed outright, but some were still alive after the shooting. He used "the humane method of bayoneting them to end their agony.' Evidence was given that after the first massacre. Sugino went back to get 15 prisoners who had been left at a. point three miles from Miri. These Prisoners were slaughtered after the Japanese had dug graves for them.

SINKING OF U.S. CRUISER

COURT-MARTIAL OF COMMANDER <Rec. 11 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Dec. 4. Captain C. B. McVay, commanding officer of the United States ,< heavy cruiser Indianapolis, which was sunk in the Philippines Sea on July 30, appeared before a court-martial charged that he neglected to order a zig-zag course through an area where enemy submarines might be encountered, and that after being informed that his Vessel was sinking, he failed to issue and see effected timely orders for abandoning ship. . Captain McVay entered formal pleas °f not guilty. The first witness, Lieutenant Joseph ' Waldron, said that the cruiser Indianapolis had been warned of submarine contacts within 200 miles of the route ; «,was instructed to follow from Guam. The commander was instructed to traVe l at 15 knots, and to zig-zag at his own discretion.