BLUFF OYSTER OPENERS SEEK WAGE GUARANTEE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28819, 13 February 1959, Page 10

BLUFF OYSTER OPENERS SEEK WAGE GUARANTEE

(New Zealand Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, February 12. Oyster openers operating at Bluff are believed to be demanding £l2 a week minimum wage f' -• the 1959 season, which begins at midnight on Saturday. In the past, a minimum wage has not been paid.

More than 80 men are concerned in the demand. If a minimum figure should be* fixed, the price of oysters may rise considerably over last year’s rates.

The oyster openers want a mini-

mum wage to offset any loss they may experience when the oyster fleet is not operating through bad weather or when catches are small.

Last season, they were paid 3d a dozen for oysters opened, and many earned up to £3O a week while they were plentiful. Eleven boats will work from Bluff this, season, but it is ndt yet known how the priced will compare with last season’s rates. A spokesman for' Barnes and pany, oyster merchants, said he did not expect the prices to differ greatly from last season. Invercargill prices last year were: tins of 10 dozen, 17s 6d; tins of 25 dozen, £2 2s; large pottles, 4s 3d; small pottles, 2s 8d; own container, Is 6d a dozen.

CANBERRA FROM MALAYA

R.A.F. Author On Proving Flight

Wing Commander E. GarrardCole, author of “Single to Rome,” a war-time prisoner escape story, reached the station, Wigram. yesterday in a Canberra of the Far East Air Force, R.A.F. Now with No, 224 Group, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, /«Wing Commander Gamt&Cble and his crew are on a proving flight from Singapore for a series of what the R.A.F. terms “lime ranger” navigation -exercises, i ' On this flight, the Canberra crossed Austfalia and flew to Ohakea from Melbourne. There are likely to be more flights by Singapore-based Canberras to New Zealand on these exercises, but “not more than one every month, or so,” Wing Commander Garrard-Cole said. With him are iHight Lieutenant R. E. Abbott, of No. 45 Squadron, as pilot, and Flight Lieutenant J. I. Davies, of the R.A.F., Tenga, as navigator. They >ill be taking off on return tomorrow' morning.