QUEENSLAND STRIKE

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25435, 5 March 1948, Page 7

QUEENSLAND STRIKE

Statement Made By Mr Chifley

“WITHIN STATE’S JURISDICTION” (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

7p m ) CANBERRA, March 4. The Commonwealth warmly approved and supported the attitude of the Queensland Premier (Mr E. M. Hanlon) that industrial disputes should be settled by arbitration, said the Prime Minister (Mr Chifley) in the House of Representatives this afternoon. Every endeavour was being made to see if it was possible to terminate the “regrettable” rail strike in Queensland.

Mr Chifley said the Queensland dispute fell entirely within the State’s jurisdiction. Mr Hanlon had asked for assistance in sending food by air to outlying centres, and that request had been granted. To-day Mr Hanlon had made one or two minor requests, and the Commonwealth would try to do what it could to help. The waterside workers had struck — not against any award, but apparently in sympathy with the strikers—and this development was being examined to see what Federal action could be taken, said Mr Chifley. “Strike May Be Cracking” Reports from all parts of Queensland give the first indications that the railway strike may be cracking. Twenty-one trains are now running in Queensland and bigger schedules are planned. Results so far in a State-wide poll on whether the miners should support the railway strike show that 435 men have voted against and 342 in favour of striking. The results come from two of the biggest underground coal mines in Queensland, one of which voted 144 to 3 against striking. During the polling open hostility was shown to the strikers because the railwaymen did not support the miners in the 1946 strike. A key union, the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen, is divided on the strike issue and many of its members are helping to keep trains running. The leader of the Queensland People’s PJrty (Mr T A. Hiley), who until recently has been criticising the actions of the Premier (Mr E. M. Hanlon), now says that developments have transformed the strike into a contest between law and anarchy far wider than any industrial quarrel with the Government, and that as the

maintenance of constitutional government is now the major issue the People’s Party will give its entire support to the State Government.