MOUNTPARK DISPUTE

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25537, 3 July 1948, Page 6

MOUNTPARK DISPUTE

QUESTIONS FOR MR BARNES

Minister’s List Sent To Mayor PUBLIC MEETING TO-MORROW (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 2. Thirty-one questions dealing with various phases of the Auckland waterfront dispute have been prepared by the Minister of Labour (Mr A. MeLagan) for submission to the president of the Waterside Workers’ Union (Mr H. Barnes) for him to answer at a public meeting he is to address in the Auckland Town Hall on Sunday njght. The Minister said to-night that as it was desirable that any information about the dispute should be adequate he had drawn up some questions which might well "be answered by Mr Barnes. The Minister said he would suggest that the answers should be clear and precise. The questions were being forwarded to the Mayor of Auckland (Mr J. A. C. Allum), who has been announced as chairman of the meeting, so that he may ensure that opportunity is given to Mr Barnes to answer them.

Several questions deal with hatches on the idle wheat ship Mountpark. In one of them the Minister asked was Mr Barnes aware that until Auckland waterside workers refused to handle the Mountpark’s hatches in February these hatches had been manhandled for years with complete safety, and that no complaints were made to the employers as to any alleged danger? Another asked if Mr Barnes was aware that even after his union’s re-’ fusal to manhandle these hatches in February they were manhandled at Sydney and Wellington with complete safety. It was also asked in a further question if Me Barnes was aware that in February members of his union manhandled the hatches at Auckland /with complete safety, and that even on the ship’s present visit to Auckland some of the hatches were manhandled by non-unionist waterside workers with complete safety, and without any complaint. The Minister asked Mr Barnes if he would deny that he refused to abide by the decision of the Waterfront Industry Commission that the hatches were safe to manhandle, and should be manhandled; and that he and other officers and members of his union had pledged themselves to abide' by the decisions of the commission. He also asked Mr Barnes if he would deny that his union pledged itself to accept and abide by the decision of the tribunal which considered the Wellington ships’ carpenters’ dispute last year.

Union’s Pledge Mr Barnes was also asked if he would deny that his union dishonoured its pledge to accept the tribunal the Government offered to set up to investigate and decide whether the Mountpark’s hatches were safe .to handle by hand.

The Minister asked whether, if a commission of inquiry was set up to go into the matter, as Mr Barnes had requested, Mr Barnes and his union would pledge themselves to abide by its decisions. If such a pledge was given, did Mr Barnes consider it would be of any more value than his previous pledges?

The Minister asked if the union was satisfied that its claims about the Mountpark’s hatches were right. Why had the union not accepted the Government’s offer of a tribunal with a Judge of the Supreme Court as chairman when the Minister of Labour had stated on June 12 that this offer was still open? Questions were also asked of Mr Barnes about the Broompark's hatches. The Minister also asked if Mr Barnes was aware that the Mountpark’s hatches were similar to those of hundreds of other Liberty-type ships, and that the hatches of these ships were manhandled at ports throughout the world without complaint. He also inquired whether Mr Barnes Would deny that the rate of turnround of ships at Auckland was slower than at any ether port in New Zealand. Would Mr Barnes deny that the system of “spelling” in operation in Auckland was one of the factors responsible for the slow rate of turnround of ships at that port? He also asked if Mr Barnes approved this system of “spelling” and. if not, what steps he had taken to advocate its removal.