EASTER MUST APPLY BRAKE

Evening Star, Issue 25769, 16 April 1946, Page 8

EASTER MUST APPLY BRAKE

CLEARING OF SHIPPING BOTTLENECK CONTINGENT SERVICES NOT OPERATING (P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 15. Because people would be on holiday and supplies would not be coming forward from the freezing works, there would be a difficulty in the loading; of ships during the Easter holiday period, stated the Acting Minister of Labour, Mr O'Brien, when the Auckland report suggesting that volunteer citizen labour should be used at Easter to expedite the loading of food ships for Britain was referred to him to-night. The Minister added that, at the' same time, every effort would be made to expedite the loading of food ships. " The ships will be worked to the maximum that other contingent services provide and to the extent that labour is available," said the chairman , of the Waterfront Control Commission, ' Captain R. E, Price, this evening. Ho added that the waterfront could not function unless contingent services and other works were operating. Some of the cool stores were prepared only to load out and not to take in produce at Easter. Other -works -would he working restricted time. It would be impossible to work continuously on the waterfront during the holiday period, Captain Price said, for supplies- would not be forthcoming. The warehouses would also be closed, and ships could not be discharged unless these* were open to take goods, as if they were unloaded that would only clutter up the sheds. It was necessary to have cargo running through them smoothly. They could not afford to break down the continuity of transport by working hours not in conformity with those observed by other sections of the community concerned. Captain Price added that unskilled or inexperienced labour simply could not be used on the waterfront without a certain number of key men to supervise, to work winches, and to act as deck men. To-day labour was in shorter supply on the waterfront than at anv period during the war, he said. It might be due to the waterside workers seeking other avenues of employment which they regarded as having more permanency. On receiving the telegram from Mr Allum, the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, referred it to Mr O'Brien and to the Waterfront Control Commission, with the request that everything practicable should be done to expedite the loading of food ships. AUCKLAND, April 15 The fact that he had requested the Minister of Labour, Mr O'Brien, and the Waterfront Control Commission to investigate every possible way of expeditious loading of food ships was referred to in a telegram received to-day from the Prime Minister .by Mr Allum. The Prime Minister added that be had requested the Minister and the commission to take whatever action seemed practicable. Mr Fraser was. replying to a telegram sent by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce on Thursday while he was in Australia. In its telegram the chamber urged the Government to declare a state of emergency on the Auckland wharves, and also to ensure that the maximum hours were worked until the bottleneck caused by the recent strike was cleared.