MR. WEBB SPEAKS OUT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 45, 23 February 1939, Page 12

MR. WEBB SPEAKS OUT

Complaints of the cost of handling cargo at New Zealand ports have been both frequent and emphatic for some, time past, and, in the opinion of most" people concerned, the situation on the waterfront has come close to being a scandal. In his capacity as Minister of Labour, Mr. Webb took the opportunity at Auckland to speak very plainly of the "inefficiency which unfortunately prevails at many New Zealand ports." A Commission of Inquiry has been requested by those who have suffered from this inefficiency, but Mr. Webb thinks that this might be avoided by a national conference between ship owners and the New Zealand Waterside Workers' Union. This the Minister intends to convene at the earliest and most convenient moment. At the conference, it is stated, all phases of waterfront work will be discussed. The announcement of his decision was made by Mr. Webb to a gathering of Auckland watersiders in their lunch hour, when he pointed out the enormous amount of criticism levelled against wharf workers for the high cost of loading and discharging cargoes. What this extra cost means compared with the cost of similar work in the ports of other countries, often competitors of New Zealand in the British market, need not be laboured. It means simply added costs of imported goods to the New Zealand consumer and reduced margins of profit to the New Zealand producer. The difference between the conference proposed by Mr. Webb and the Commission of Inquiry otherwise demanded lies in the atmosphere of the respective gatherings. A conference may be described as a cooperative effort between the parties to obtain better results in the common job, whereas a commission is apt to be regarded as a formal search for a culprit and therefore provocative of hostility. This Mr. Webb wishes to avoid. He seeks instead to bring employer and worker together round the table to see what can be done to remove the stigma of "inefficiency" from the industry. There is no reason why such a conference, approached in the right spirit by both sides, should not succeed. It is possible that the blame cannot fairly be attributed to one party alone and that the efficient working of cargo depends to some extent on orderly methods of consignment in the first place. This and other kindred matters are for the conference to discuss. But if it is to secure reform at the ports, a conference that begins and ends in words only without a resolution to put them into effect will do little good. So the Minister spoke strongly to the watersiders on the need for greater discipline and no loafing on the job. He warned them that if the conference was unsuccessful, the Government was determined to take what additional steps it considered necessary. The Minister will have the support of all right-thinking people, no matter what their political colour, on the firm attitude he has here taken up on behalf of the Government.