Seamen Convicted—Back To Ship

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30738, 30 April 1965, Page 1

Seamen Convicted—Back To Ship

fJV Z. Press Association) NELSON, April 29. Before being ordered back on board “immediately,” the 37 striking seamen from the New Zealand Star told Mr G. A. Nicholls, S.M., in a special sitting of the Nelson Magistrate’s Court at 8.30 a.m. today that they had “no quarrel with the ship or the shipping line.” They had struck in protest against their own union’s acceptance of a 56-hour working week, they said. They had decided to strike while in New Zealand because if they struck while at a British port the owners would simply replace them with a different crew.

Each of the 37 pleaded guilty to a charge of being absent from his ship without leave. They were convicted and ordered to pay costs amounting to £55 10s. As they waited for the Magistrate to appear the men chatted and smoked and were as well behaved as police said they had been throughout their night in the cells. They filled a public bench which spanned the width of the courtroom and overflowed into the jury stand and on to seats normally reserved for staff.

Captain 1. Waddell, the

master, sat in the middle of the court clutching a briefcase. With him was a representative of the Blue Star Line.

Prosecuting. Mr J. D. Williams said the seamen had left the ship “in concert" by way of a protest against some matter not concerning the vessel.

The Magistrate asked the men to appoint a spokesman and Able Seaman R. C. Hawkes stepped forward. “This matter is nothing to do with the company. We have nothing against the Blue Star Line or the ship,” he said.

“We are protesting against the 56-hour week our union has accepted. This is the only way we can do so. We have sent letters to the union but got no satisfaction." The Magistrate: There is nothing much more you can do about it in New Zealand, is there? Won't this wait until you get back home? Hawkes: At home they would just man the ship with another crew, sir. The Magistrate: Are you prepared to go back? Hawkes: We are, sir, at 2 p.m. The Magistrate: I had expected this to fizzle out. I am sorry to hear you will not go back before 2 p.m. I shall have to order your return immediately. Ir there is any more trouble it, will be regarded as serious. Hawkes: We regard it as serious now, sir.

The Magistrate: So do we. Without fuss the men rode back to McGlashen quay in a chartered bus and walked back on board.

They insisted, however, that their strike was not at an end until 2 p.m. and would do no work until that hour. Captain Waddell was persuaded to allow them on board and waive his right to press further charges.

“I think we will have no difficulty in sailing on this evening's tide.” he said. “I do not know how th’.; business blew up and I cannot regard the men’s actions as reasonable.” Able Seaman Hawkes said they felt they had “made their point” by holding the 24-hour stoppage. The issue would be raised at Dunoon, Scotland, on May 3 at the annual conference of the British National Union of Seamen. If the men’s demands were not then met it was likely the crew would again walk off, he said.

This could happen at Napier. “We have also attempted to get the men of the lonic and the Melbourne Star, both at Lyttelton, to strike in sympathy with us. They said they would await the outcome of today’s Court case.” When the seamen walked off the Blue Star freighter soon after lunch yesterday they gathered in a Nelson Harbour Board shed, but

when they were refused permission to sleep there, they prepared to doss down on the wharf.

Some played football on the wharf to keep warm in the chill wind.

At 10.30 p.m. Captain Waddell lodged a complaint with the police and the men were arrested and ferried to the police station cells by car. Carpenters working on the wharf “passed round that hat” for the seamen and raised £2. The money was spent on fish and chips. Three crewmen stayed on board to carry out essential duties. “We want to show the public that we are responsible in our attitude,” said one striker. “We are prepared to go to gaol over this.” The seamen resumed their normal duties at 2 p.m. and the ship sailed for Napier tonight.

The lonic sailed from Lyttelton at 7.10 p.m. yesterday. The secretary of the Lyttelton branch of the New Zealand Seamen’s Union (Mr T. Kelly) last evening said he had not heard of a move for any of the crew of the Melbourne Star to go out in sympathy. “We members of the New Zealand union do not have any direct ties with the British union. The issue is a domestic one for the British union’s own organisation.” he said.