"STRAINED RELATIONS"

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 111, 7 November 1933, Page 8

"STRAINED RELATIONS"

P. AND T. SERVICE AND

GOVERNMENT

When speaking at yesterday V op, en< ing of the biennial conference of th» Post and Telegraph Employees' Association, the Hon. A. Hamilton, Postmas-ter-General, referred to the strained,relations that had for a time existed between the Government and the Assoelation. Although the association, said ,- th«, Minister, was comprised of. officers of the P. and T. Departintßt, he was pleased to bo able to say, from his close personal knowledge of the facts, that the disagreement had not in any. way affected the splendid standard o£ efficient and loyal service the Department as ,a whole rendered to the' Government and to the community.That was saying a lot for the. officer! who had made it possible for the Government to rely on the P. and T. Department to shoulder extra burdens, in this time of national stress, and; ho wanted to emphasise the confidence tho Government had in the advice and organising ability of the permanent head of the Department, Mr. McNamara. Keverting to the matter of the disagreement between the Government and the association, the Minister said he hoped that the conference" would ratify] ) the settlement reached by the, assOaia-. tion's executive, and that the future relations would be cordial and businesslike. He approved the' principle. Of trade unionism and sueh-like organisations, but ho thought the main trouble was to curb the impetuous spirit and confine tho efforts of organisations to what was reasonable of attainment under the circumstances as they existed. This was truo of many organisations he had had, experience of himself, and he. had no doubt it was a problem the officials of the P. and T. Association were well acquainted with. However, he desired to assure'the delegates that there was no bad feeling remaining so far as the Government was concerned over the differences that had existed, and ho hoped that those differences were happily ended.