REGISTER TO BE CLOSED

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26465, 5 July 1951, Page 6

REGISTER TO BE CLOSED

ACTION TO DAY AT LYTTELTON

ENOUGH APPLICATIONS ALREADY RECEIVED (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, July 4. More than sufficient registrations were in hand to man efficiently the port of Lyttelton, said the Minister of Labour (Mr W. Sullivan) this evening, when he said that he was pleased to see that “even at this late stage rank-and-file members of the deregistered union at Lyttelton have decided to break from their irresponsible leaders and seek a return to work.” Because sufficient registrations had been received it had been decided to cease accepting further registrations, the Minister said. However, sufficient cards were not available at Lyttelton to-day, and members of the deregistered union who completed cards by 4 p.m. to-morrow would be considered on the same basis as the men who registered to-day. The Lyttelton Port Conciliation Committee would meet to-morrow to determine the number of men to be placed in the bureau register, and when the figure was fixed a selection would be made of the additional men required. Mr Sullivan added that there would not be work on the waterfront for a substantial number of members of the old union. Those men could thank no one but their leaders for the loss of their employment.

As soon as the port register was complete servicemen would be withdrawn from Lyttelton.