INCONSIDERATE WORKERS

Evening Star, Issue 25715, 12 February 1946, Page 8

INCONSIDERATE WORKERS

TOBACCO DEMANDS (P.A.) _ ROTOItUA, Feb. 11. •' l take this first opportunity after the war of thanking you, on behalf of the Government, for the excellent comieration received from vou in meeting the manv difficulties the war created." said the Minister of Suppl", Mr Sullivan, when opening the twentysecond annual congress of the New Zealand Master Grocers' Federation at lloto.rua to-dav. " I have appreciated the continuous helpfulness with which your federation approached the problems of rationing. I travelled widelv a year ago in overseas countries, and am satisfied that our rationing system has not only been simpler but also more effective than those in the other lands I visited " During the opening ceremony the president, Mr H. A. Fanselow (Wellington 1 ) said that he had iust been handed a telegram from the New Zenland Dairy Factory Workers' Union brauch at Waitoa. advising that the men were dissatisfied with the tobacco situation and would declare their store " black " by the week-end if the position were not improved. The president said that this was one of the stores connected' with the federation, and said he objected to this type of demand.

The Minister said he- agreed that the demand was unfair and unjust. The tobacco situation was not the fault of the distributors or the retailers, nor was it the fault of the manufacturers. The position arose through the immense difficulty in getting girls to work in the factories if or processing raw materials. This was the only cause of the shortage. The Government was doing its best to improve the situation, and he hoped that the Waitoa men would reconsider their attitude.