SHIPPING STRIKE

Evening Star, Issue 18832, 5 January 1925, Page 6

SHIPPING STRIKE

A BLACK OUTLOOK. ULIMAROA STILL HELD UP. NEW ZEALANDERS DELAYED. Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. SYDNEY, January 4. The Ulimaroa is still held up.^ Many New Zealanders who visited Sydney for the Christmas holidays, and who had booked passages by her, are placed in an invidious position. Some 200 passengers had booked by the Ulimaroa, and a number of them are in an awkward fix. as after their holidaymaking, they had only just sufficient money to take them home. No vessel is scheduled to leave for New Zealand until January 9. The trouble arose because the seamen insist that the Communist Hall shall be the place to pick up men, instead of the shipping office as formerly. So far os the Ulimaroa is concerned, tills condition has been ignored. The prospects of a settlement are not bright, and tho situation is fraught with grave possibilities. Shipping circles are perturbed because of possible ramifications. The company is taking a firm stand against the attempt to force it to secure men through the Communist Hall. The crew of the Ulimaroa have been given notice that they will be paid off on Monday. SELECTION OF CREWS. THE UNION’S ATTITUDE. MELBOURNE, January 4. The secretary of the Seamen’s Union has announced that the rooms of the Seamen’s Union will in the future be the picking-up place for crews. As this follows similar action in Sydney, it appears that the union is endeavoring to make the question of the picking-up place a Federal matter, in which case tho Federal Arbitration Court • can intervene in the dispute.—A. and N.Z. Cable. THE INTERSTATE SERVICES. SUSPENSION OP TRAFFIC POSSIBLE. SYDNEY, January 4. The position in regard to the interstate traffic is ominous, as every interstate vessel reaching Sydney has one or two vacancies in her crew, and it is likely that if the owners refuse to go to tho Communist Hall to fill the gaps all such ships will be automatically tied up upon arrival. POSITION UNCHANGED. SYDNEY, January 4. (Received January 5, at 1.20 a.m.) There is no change in the shipping position. A meeting of ship owners and tho union’s representatives to-morrow will discuss the vexed question of (lie signing on place. The ship owners at Melbourne also meet the men to-morrow. It is regarded as possible that tho trouble will be referred to the Federal Arbitration Court OVERSEAS COMPANIES. ABOLISHING THE BUREAU. SYDNEY, January 5. (Received January 5, at 11.5 a.m.) Preliminary steps have been taken by the Overseas Shipping Representatives Association to carry put tho agreement arrived at by the Melbourne conference with -reference to the Shipping Labor Bureau. The men employed by the bureau have been given notice that the bureau will cease to function from January 7.