OPERATIONS ON WATERFRONT

Evening Star, Issue 18161, 29 December 1922, Page 6

OPERATIONS ON WATERFRONT

ROSY PERIOD FOB NEW YEAR. A general holiday will ho observed on the Dunedin waterfront from noon tomorrow until 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Tho watersid'ers will work all the ships' in port up to 5 p.m. to-day. Tho port promises to. be extremely busy next week, and most of the wharf accommodation will be occupied when operations are resumed on Wednesday. Among the vessel expected within the next four or five days are tho Port Darwin (from Liverpool and northern ports), City of Newcastle (from New York and northern ports), Waihora (from Singapore and Bunbury), Whangapo (from Sydney via ports), Kaitangata (from Greymonth via ports), Kaituna (from Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton), Kini (from Napier), and tho Calm and Holmdale (from northern ports). Most of the waterside labor was employed to-day. Sis gangs, about ICB men, were engaged in discharging cargo from tho liner Maimoa, several gangs wore discharging coal from tho Waipori, and others were engaged in discharging and loading operations on the coastal steamer Breeze. The Port Chalmers waterfront is also fairly busy. The Shaw, Savill, and Albion liner lonic arrived at Port this morning from Lyttelton, hut no. labor waa available to load freight booked by the vessel for the United Kingdom. The Federal liner Kent is loading wool and other cargo at Port for London. The Union steamers Palbono, ICatoa, and Kaitoke are undergoing overhaul, and many men are employed In various capacities on these vessels. WON’T TRANSFER, TRAIN FARE QUESTION AGAIN. Some indignation has been expressed by local exporters and others owing to tho Port Chalmers Waterside Workers’ Union deciding to cease work fron 5 p.m. to-day until next Wednesday morning. Should tho union adhere to this decision, tho lonic will remain idle until 8 a.m. on Wednesday, which will mean considerable delay. Most of tho available waterside labor at Port was socured to load the Kent, hut this vessel is expected to finish operations to-day, in which case she will sail early to-morrow morning for Wellington., Opua, (Bay of Islands), and AmckHand. Seen by a ' Star ’ reporter this morning in regard to the matter, the secretary of the Port Chalmers Waterside Workers’ Union said that all the available men were engaged working the Kent, and that there was not one idle man belonging to the union. In Die past, if the Port Chalmers waterfront was busy and l Die Dunedin wharves idle, or vice versa, it had been customary for tho employers to transfer men from one place to the other and to pay their train fares. Now, as the employers would not pay the fares, the men refused to transfer. He added that if the employers had agreed to pay tho workers’ fares the lonio could h%ve jxgijiAoafiei