TUNNELLERS’ PAY
Tawa Flat Railway
INCREASE IMPOSSIBLE
Premier Rejects Request
By Telegraph—Press Association.
Auckland, May 20.
An intimation that it was not the intention of the Government to abandon the Tawa Flat railway construction work was given by the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. G. ML Forbes, when rejecting a suggestion by Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Labour Party, that the present dispute should be referred to the Arbitration Court. “Unless we can conserve to the utmost the funds we have we will have an army of unemployed that will be disastrous,” said the Prime Minister in indicating that even if an independent tribunal suggested increased rates the Government wopld not be able to pay them.
Mr. Forbes said he had informed a deputation representing the tunnellers that the wages offered by the Government would, according to the engineers, enable from 18/6 to 23/8 a day to be earned, and that was- the utmost that could be offered. To provide additional rates would involve the dismissal of men on public works, and he would not stand for that policy. It was only by the greatest care that the Public Works Fund could be made to keep employed the men engaged at the present time.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 200, 21 May 1931, Page 10
Word Count
205TUNNELLERS’ PAY Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 200, 21 May 1931, Page 10
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