The Press SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1947. Speeding the Ships

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25300, 27 September 1947, Page 8

The Press SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1947. Speeding the Ships

The problems of speeding the turnround of ships at Lyttelton were illumined—one of them, at least, for the first time—by the conference convened on Thursday by the Lyttelton Harbour Board. The delegates were both diligent and fair - minded in their search for the causes of delay. Perhaps they were a little too anxious to make it clear that they had not assembled just to castigate the waterside workers; for they could surely not have intended to give the impression, which the report of their discussion does give, that the waterside workers are all but blameless. The 40-hour week, the shortage of labour,, the lack of railway trucks, insufficient goods shed space, the failure of consignees to clear the sheds promptly, delays in obtaining import licences, even the weather—all were given their share of the blame. But these are ‘jiot the only reasons why oversea ships now spend more than twice as long as they used to on the New Zealand coast. The waterside workers, whose output a man-hour has declined markedly in recent years, must also accept a share of responsibility, and no good purpose is served by ignoring this. When other bottle-necks restricting the flow of cargo and the movement of ships have been removed by the efforts and the co-operation of those who are now seeking to help Britain—and New Zealand—it will become all the more important to improve the rate of cargo-handling. The conference agreed that one of the causes of delay is the shortage of railway trucks. That cannot easily be remedied; and the problem becomes one of making the best use of the trucks that are available. It is imperative that none should be left idle on the sidings. They will be, unless commercial firms and their employees are prepared to clear goods from the congested railway sheds on Saturday mornings and even at night and on Sundays, if need be. The Railways Department does not appear to have received full co-operation in this respect. An official of the department recently said that of 41 firms asked to clear cargo from the goods sheds on a Saturday morning only two responded. Whether the fault lay with the consignees, with their employees, or with transport operators has not been made clear; but it is difficult to believe that this problem will not yield to common sense. Mr A. R. Guthrey and the District Traffic Manager of Railways pointed to one of the less widely understood disadvantages of the import control system when they agreed that cargo is often delayed in the sheds awaiting the arrangement of import licences. Government departments should be able to clear up this difficulty, which is of a kind that the Prime Minister himself once acknowledged and deplored. Every State department appeals for public co-operation. Let the State departments give an example by co-operating among themselves for the public good. Having discussed the problems broadly, the conference took the right course in appointing a committee to consult with the workers’ organisations concerned. It is to be regretted that the waterside workers did not accept the invitation to join the conference. The chairman explained their absence by say-, ing he had been told they were too busy to attend. They were not too busy a week earlier to take a day off work for some to attend a funeral Any bad impression created by their ignoring the conference, however, may quickly be dispelled. The conference did no more than take a look at the various tasks involved in speeding the ships. The hard work is yet to come; and it must be done by the joint committee representative of the conference and of the unions. Only the willing partnership of all concerned, including the waterside workers, will make it effective.