Two Cartage Firms Ignore Agreement

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31760, 17 August 1968, Page 1

Two Cartage Firms Ignore Agreement

Two of the three national bulk tonnage firms with bases in Dunedin have started to move strike-bound goods in Dunedin and Invercargill, using local carriers under the special exemptions granted by the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon).

Previously the two companies had agreed with other carriers and bulk tonnage firms to ignore the exemptions, the Press Association reported last evening.

All carriers but two in Dunedin and Invercargill are holding to their agreement not to carry goods for the bulk tonnage firms. The president of the Christchurch Road Transport Association (Mr A. G. Williams) said last night that the decision not to move bulk tonnage by road would be effective throughout New Zealand

Mr Williams said that at first it had been thought that it would be possible to move certain goods by road to keep essential services going, but after discussions yesterday it had been decided that this would not be possible.

It was felt that the dis-1 pute was an internal one in the Railways Department and it was unfortunate that bulktonnage firms were the ones most affected, said Mr Williams. “We have no wish to widen the dispute, so we will virtually close down,” said Mr Williams. “There will be no call on road transport organisations or members of drivers’ unions to move goods that would normally be carried by rail. “This will mean that all cargo normally carried by

bulk tonnage will go by ordinary rail and will overtax a system which in many cases is already overtaxed." Mr Williams said the situation would be reviewed daily, but until the dispute was settled there was not much that bulk tonnage firms could do.

Mr Williams is a director of one of the four leading bulk cartage firms in Christchurch and his firm is a New Zealand-wide one. He said discussions on the matter had been held in Dunedin and the North Island, and decisions similar to that of his own association had been reached.