SEAMEN EPICURES

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1925, Page 5

SEAMEN EPICURES

MANUKA MENUS CRItIDISED

I.W.W. INCITE JOB CONTROL

I (Pm Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, May 23.

A passenger, who came over from Melbourne on the Manuka, informed a pressman that Lyons harangued the crew and tried to persuadei them not to go on the boat at . Melbourne, but those who might have been inclined to listen to him were hardly in a fit condition to appreciate his oratory, arid they went aboard. On the journey, the passengers > knew that there was every possibility of trouble, but fortunately, the speed of the vessel was not slowed down.

He confirmed the statement that, the menu, which bad been conceded for the journey, was altered when halfway across. This passenger had an ojipdi’tunity of seeing a ' copy •of the menu "demanded,” and conceded and was so impressed that he took a copy qf it. There were no twq days alike.' The first .and last days’ infenus are given as follow: — Sunday: . Breakfast; porridge, grilled steak and 1 onions, ham' and ( eggs. Dinner; vegetable soup, roast pork and seasoning, roast beef, potatoes and cabbage and sago pudding. Tea; cold,meats, greens and tomatoes, jellies and scones. . 16

Saturday: Breakfast; porridge, Hamburg steak, pork .sausages and onions. Dinner; Mulligatawny soup, roast lamb, mint "sauce, cauliflower, roast and boiled potatoes, baked jam roll, and custard. Tea; cold meats, fruit pie and pastry. ... It then transpired' that even this menu did not include some items Which were on the old menu, such, as fricassee of rabbit, boiled tripe and onions, salad etc. • In addition to the. issue of rations men also' had every night what is known on the ships as “black pan,” a. practice, which became a sort of unwritten law by long usage. “Black pan’.’ was all the ..food left, aftey the saloon passengers had . had dinner. This would include filleted soles; chicken soups, jellies; in fact all the food remaining in the saloon galley, Which had not been served. Upon occasions there has been so much that the night men of the crew turned up at the galley to take it down to the forecastle, and if there was more than they could eat, they would’pick it over and “dump” the rest. Their full regulation rations were issued daily to the last ounce, but never an ounce was returned of anything whether eaten or not. ? Further inquiries revealed that the men on the Arahura, Moeraki, and many of them, on the Manuka are “fed up” with tactics of this kind of I.W.W. men, the result of whose work is to put them out of their jobs. This was indicated on the Manuka yesterday, when some of the crew who had kept apart ffom disaffected ones said that the I.W.W. men had only a very small following.

A Wellington message on Thursday stated: “Simmering trouble going on the Manuka for the last three voyages has reached a climax at last. The crew are to be paid off to-morrow and. the ship tied up. indefinitely. The real matter, beyond the question of the food, is said to be a deliberate attempt to institute job control. The Union Coy. say they feel that in the interest of the public they must resist. It is said the Executive of the Seamen’s Union are not sympathetic towards the action of the men. A trimmer named Lyons, an I.W.W. propagandist, at the instance of the Customs, is being deported by the Moeraki to Sydney to-morrow as an undesirable.