WALLSEND MINE

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 December 1934, Page 6

WALLSEND MINE

FIFTY-FOUR MEN PUT OFF

Duo entirely to the curtailment of coal orders, principally on the pari of the Railway Department, the management of the Wallsend mine found it necessary, on December 14, to give notice of dismissal to fifty-four men. These men finished at the mine on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.

The company retained approximately 100 employees, and adopted the method of giving preference to married mon whose homes and families are in the Brunnerton district. During the past three months, the Wallsend mine has averaged at best, only four shifts pei- fortnight. When work is resumed, on January 7, it is hoped that it will be found that the men will be able to work near to full time. The employment of many men for so little work, as has been the case in recent months at Wallsend, was unsatisfactory to the company, and the employees, the latter not earning more than dole wages. The Wallsend mine will resume on day shift only. On a previous occasion, when the Dobson miners were idle, work was found for the men on the BrunnerBlackball road, under construction. As this work has not been completed, and there remains some three and a-half miles only partly finished, it is not unlikely that the Public W’orks Department will find employment for the idle Wallsend men.