Strike-bound meat to be tested

Press, 23 February 1978, Page 1

Strike-bound meat to be tested

PA Wellington Ministry of Agriculture inspectors yesterday opened more of the meat containers which were stranded in the Wellington shunting yards by the railway strike. The director of the Meat Division (Mr J. D. McNab) said the temperature data collected would be studied and the future of the SIM meat load should be known today. Mr McNab said further containers might have to be opened but the Ministry wanted to open as few as possible. Forty-seven containers of export meat were stranded in the shunting yards without refrigeration for six days during the strike until they were moved by union volunteers. Four containers were opened by Ministry inspectors on Monday. The lamb carcasses were already soft but the processed boneless meat was not losing its temperature as rapidly. Car-owners were still waiting for ferries at Wellington and Picton last evening after 11 sailings failed to clear the backlog in the aftermath of the strike. There were no trains for some peak-hour passengers on the Johnsonville line, which was the centre of the dispute. All passengers’ cars booked to sail yesterday were accommodated but a few 7 people who had booked in strike-bound ferries were still waiting after the 10.40 p.m. sailings. People without bookings could not get their cars aboard a ferry yesterday but the Railways Department expects to clear the waiting-list todav. The ferries did not carrv any rail traffic yesterday, making room for about 700 cars and caravans each wav during the day. A signal failure near Ngaio halted trains on the Johnsonville line at 4.45 p.m., delaying services for up to 40 minutes. Some scheduled trains were replaced by buses, but f'e delay had been overcome by about 7 p.m. Railway union representatives will meet management on the first day of a conference called to examine the causes of the strike. The conference, originally scheduled to start yes-

terday was delayed when the union asked for an extra day to prepare its case. It might take up t< two weeks to clear the backlog of mail which built up during the railway strike, according to the Chief Postmaster in Christchurch (Mr J. C. Smith). The Post Office started moving mail between the North Island and the South Island again yesterday morning. No extra flights will be made, “but we are work-

ing hard and making every effort to clear the backlog as fast as possible," said Mr Smith. He said it was hoped that the mail affected by the strike would be cieared within two weeks Ordinary inter-isiar.d mail is carried by air in small containers called cargons. The flights were not affected by the strike, but mail built up because railwaymen in Wellington refused to handle the cargons.