TRAMWAY RATES AND FARES

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25305, 3 October 1947, Page 9

TRAMWAY RATES AND FARES

INCREASE POSSIBLE COMMENT ON TRIBUNAL’S FINDING “The Tramway Board will be concerned at overheads rising, and it will probably mean either increased fares or rates,” said the chairman of the Christchurch Tramway Board (Mr H. A. C. North) when asked to comment on the extra 5s a week awarded to tramwaymen. The interim decision of the tribunal granted some weeks ago meant an increase of about £36,000 a year to the board, said Mr North, and on top of that the final decision added about £9OOO. In addition there was about £5OOO to be provided for in other awards for the board’s employees, affected by the Arbitration Court’s pronouncement on standard wages. The increases would be discussed r by the board in due course, said Mr North, and a decision would probably be made as to the best method of recovering increased costs.

“BOUND TO ACCEPT DECISION ” UNION PRESIDENT’S VIEW “Union executives naturally feel bound to abide by the decision of the tribunal, more particularly in view of the effort of the chairman to secure all evidence from both sides,” said the chairman of the Christchurch Tramway Union (Mr L. C. Southon) yesterday. It had been appreciated when the tribunal was first set up that its findings might not be suitable to either side, but he considered that it was up to executives to accept the decision. The final decision would be discussed locally at a meeting of the union on Monday. Mr Southon would not comment on the decision of the Wellington City Council to challenge the ruling of the tribunal in the Supreme Court, saying that the matter was sub jUdice. If there was any trouble there, it would be ably handled by the secretary of the Wellington Union (Mr P. A. Hansen), who was also the national secretary.