MINISTER VISITS LYTTELTON

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26394, 12 April 1951, Page 6

MINISTER VISITS LYTTELTON

SERVICEMEN’S WORK PRAISED HANDLING ABOVE NORMAL QUANTITIES Appreciation of the work of servicemen loading and unloading ships at Lyttelton was expressed by the Minister of Labour (Mr W. Sullivan) when he visited the port yesterday afternoon. The work of toe men was also praised by the service officers who spoke to the Minister. They told him that the rate of handling general cargo was 16 to 18 tons an hour, against the normal rate or top waterfront of 11 tons, and that the early speed had been maintained and, in some eases, increased. On Tuesday, one gang handled a cargo qf cement and motor-cars at too rate of 55.5 tons an hour and, y«*terday, the Minister saw the same gang handling a cargo of flour for northern ports into the Gale at toe rate of 36 tons an hour. ’'After a hurried visit to Christchurch to meet toe emergency supplies committee, we have coma down to see you chaps on the wharves, and I want to express, on behalf of the Government, our sincere thanks for toe good work you have been doing,” said Mr SuUivan to the men working the Port Lincoln. ’You all look very well —the job must be agreeing with you. We appreciate very much the service toe Army, Navy and Air Force are giving throughout tfaa country, I hope the dispute won’t go on too long. We cannot say when it will break. We can only do pur best We can all try to get over the problem at toe earliest opportunity, with good results for all of us. I sincerely hope that, like me, you will see it out.” "We have a bit of a job on hand,” said the Minister, talking informally to the gangs working the Port HaliE« and the Gale while they were havg afternoon tea. It was not easy for the meh to take on another task. The trouble was by no means superficial, as some people thought. It went back to the root of things m the coun-

“Trying to Upset All of Ift" "While I do not want to touch on politics. I must »y there are some who - tr Xl n S t 0 upset •n nt w, said Mr Sullivan. "I am like you—a good New Zealander who wants to go his own way of life, and I am not g°'n£ stand that for one minute, "We have now reached the stage when we have asked those men whose duty it was to work on the wharves fo give consideration to signing up and going back. Nothing could be .fairer than that. We have tried to t ? e J aii :.. Bnd J u?t <tonditfons they had at the time they left work. If there aye any other points not covered, then they in turn can be refarced to our system of conciliation and arbitration. They can have their problem* ironed out in accordance .with the law, That is all we ask, I hope that throughout New Zealand before the end of next week, that we wPI fet, if not all, some of them, to work. know you will carry on with us to see.the fob out/’ The unloading of the Tamaroa, which arrived with mart than 8000 tons of general cargo, was also inspected by Mr Sullivan- H» vessel will be fully loiried at Lyttelton for Britain, mostly with refrigerated produce. „ The Minister was accompanied by the Director << Labour and Employment (Mr H.T. Bockett) the chairman of the Waterfront Industry Commission (Mr A. E- Hockett) and his private secretary (Mr D. Mclntyre). I h ey met #t by Messrs F. W. Freeman (chairman) and A. L, gurke (secretary),at the Harbour Board, Earlier in the day, the Mmisw'ntwl’? m ? de th . e - to and from Wellington in an Air Forge aeroplane, met the emergency supplies commit- “ Tl ?e ’Wnlttee is functioning smoothly and the members are working happilv together,” said Mr Syllj. v % A discussed several problems with the committee. . The mein one is

SERVICEMEN WORK AT LYTTELTON

HOLMBURN’S CREW PAID OFF

Servicemen continued to work most of the ships in port at Lyttelton yesterday. The Lambrook completed discharge of the local portion of her cargo and sailed for Dunedin. An ayrivel yesterday wag the coastal motorship Calm from Timaru with Wellington cargo for discharge. The Kaimanawa ft due to arrive to-day from Bluff to continue loading for Auckland. Some members of the crew of the Holmburn who have been ‘working by the ship ceased work yesterday when servicemen began to discharge wool brought from the Chatham Islands. The seamen were paid off.