Work Halted For About Four Hours

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31318, 14 March 1967, Page 1

Work Halted For About Four Hours

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, March 13. Many facets of Auckland business life were stopped for about four hours this morning. There were no trains or buses. No work was done on the waterfront and a number of major companies and development projects were silenced as the workers attended a mass stop-work meeting in Carlaw Park.

The meeting, attended by approximately 20,000 people, was a protest against the Government’s recent economic measures.

Mr S. G. Muir, District Traffic Manager of Railways, said that 12 suburban trains and three goods trains did not run between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The Limited Express was allowed to finish its journey into Auckland, he said, but there was nobody to handle the luggage. There were no buses for about three hours and a half, although two or three drivers continued to work. Watersiders and Auckland Harbour Board Employees’ Union men stopped at 9 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. respectively. No ships were unloaded or

loaded and nothing was taken away from the port area. Work began again progressively from about 12.30 p.m. The disruption was no more than expected. SOME KILLING The three major freezing works all came to a stop. Some killing took place at the Westfield and Southdown plants, but none at R. and W.

Hellaby and Company, Ltd.’s plant at Otahuhu. The butchers did not report for work. The £lom Auckland University extension work came to a halt. A spokesman for one of the contractors said a two-hour stoppage did not affect a job of this magnitude. All work stopped on the new Inter-continental Hotel and the new acute block at Auckland Hospital. At the new South Pacific Hotel site about half of the men continued working.