MINERS IDLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 49, 27 February 1945, Page 7

MINERS IDLE

A DISTRICT MEETING P.A. INVERCARGILL, Feb. 26. A district stop-work meeting was held by the miners at Ohai today, and as a result all the mines in the district were idle. A decision to send a protest to the National Council of Mine Workers against an interpretation of the coal mines award made by Mr. Justice j ! Kennedy in a recent case at InvercarS gill was made, stated the secretary of the Nightcaps Miners Union, Mr. E.I W. Hunt. The case was one in which a miner who lost a leg as the result of injuries received while working in the Linton mine claimed damages from the company. Decision had been made in favour of the company, and the miners objected to the fact that the judge's interpretation of the Act laid the whole onus for safety of his appliances on the employee. The men did not agree with this. Many of the men man-powered to the mines were not fully experienced, and the miners believed that it was hardly fair to place all the responsibility on them. Introduction of State insurance for all miners was advocated at the meeting, and it was decided to send a remit to the national council on this matter.

It is not usual for miners to hold a district meeting on a week day, as it causes considerable loss of production. Such meetings are usually held on Sundays, but in this case a vote was taken in the mines on Saturday and the decision was that the-meeting should-be held today. ,-■ '.■] "" Work will be resumed tomorrow.