Effects In Canterbury

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29998, 6 December 1962, Page 16

Effects In Canterbury

Arrangements tor the handling of perishable goods and livestock were made in discussions yesterday between the district traffic manager of the Railways Department in Christchurch (Mr E. C. Brittenden) and officials of the local branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. The branch secretary (Mr G. Finlayson) said an agreement had been reached for the carriage of the goods, and that the labour required would be purely voluntary. He would call a meeting of his executive today and members of the union would be advised of any decisions made. This morning perishable goods from the north, south, and west would be handled at the Christchurch sheds, said Mr Brittenden last evening. Livestock for Islington, Kaiapoi and Belfast, as well as other perishable goods consigned to Woolston, would be handled. It was expected that all trains which started before midnight would continue to work through to their destinations. The train serving the inter-island ferry this morning would run. said Mr Brittenden, but the Aramoana rail ferry across Cook Strait and the rail-air service would be suspended. For the freezing works throughout Canterbury, the stoppage means considerable disruption in their schedules at a time when they are approaching their peak killing period. Meat which is in refrigerated waggons awaiting carriage to the ports will have to be unloaded and replaced in the cool stores. The manager of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company (Mr R. D. Iles) said last evening that his company’s three factories at Belfast, Fairfield and Pareora would all be affected, with perhaps as many as 6000 carcases at each to be put back into cool storage. Work at the Pareora factory was also threatened.,

since about 150 workers were transported to the works each day by New Zealand Railway

Road Services bus, “In the meantime, we have arranged for them to be taken to work tomorrow morning by taxis and other transport.” Commenting on the A.S.R.S statement that all livestock loaded or in transit would be delivered to its destination, the general manager of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Ltd. (Mr W M. Cleland) said this was gratifying. “But at any point where we have been loading meat into waggons it will have to go back into storage. It also means that the transport of by-products to one central point will be interrupted—and this could be a most serious problem.” Postal Services The chief postmaster at Christchurch (Mr C. J. C. Simpson) said every effort would be made to send mails expeditiously, by all means available, throughout the duration of the strike. “Mails on the main routes, normally carried by the New Zealand Railways, will in the main be transported by Post Office vehicles driven by our own officers who are normally employed on maildriving duties. Mail vans will leave the terminal offices on the various routes such as Dunedin. Greymouth, Blenheim, approximately ait the same time. "Drivers will change over ait a mid-way point. Mails will be dropped and picked up at all intermediate offices. Letters and specially-urgent parcels or packets will be sent by air wherever possible where other means of dispatch are not available. “We will, of course, be concentrating on first-class mail (sealed letters). Second class mail—unsealed letters, packets, newspapers and parcels—will be sent when practicable. During the strike parcels will be accepted only at the sender’s risk. Perishable articles will not be accepted unless prompt dispatch is assured. <

“Very little time has been given to us to organise replacement services, but considerable progress has been made with this. Alternative dispatch plans have already been made for most mail routes. “I confidently expect that there will be very little disruption to letter mails, although some delay is likely on secondary mails. “Under normal conditions, mails from most other centres are transmitted during the night. The temporary services provided by our own people will be operated during daylight hours. This could, in some cases, cause a delay of one day in delivery. Postmen, however, may be held up by the irregular services,” said Mr Simpson. Ships Affected At Lyttelton, the 48-hour railway stoppage will affect all shipping in the port. Shunters who are engaged on the wharves are members of the A.S.RS.. and cargoes therefore cannot be delivered to and from the vessels. Two ships which are loading refrigerated meat for Britain are involved. The Ulster Star, due to leave port this evening, has six hours’ more work in loading refrigerated cargo and also requires 450 drums of tallow to be loaded before sailing. One week's work, most of which involves the loading erf refrigerated meat, lies ahead of the Port Hobart. Several other smaller vessels are engaged in loading and unloading. A warning that members of the Canterbury Drivers' Union would not handle any goods during the stoppage usually handled by the railways was issued, by the secretary (Mr A. S. Roberts) yesterday. Mr Roberts said he was acting on instructions from the national headluarters of his union.