AUSTRALIAN DOCKYARDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 November 1944, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN DOCKYARDS

LORD KEYES’ CRITICISM SYDNEY, November 5. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Keyes has made charges that working conditions in Australian dockyards have delayed ship repairs. The Minister of the Navy (Mr Makin) has criticised Lord Keyes’ statement as “regrettable and provocative.” Speaking at Brisbane, Lord Keyes referred to a Pacific Island base whore an Australian warship is reported to have been sent for repairs. He said: “At this base they work 24 hours a day, as all sailors and soldiers are prepared to do in all conditions of service, instead of as in this country, where the number of hours worked each day and the number of days worked each week are controlled by somebody of whom I have no knowledge.” Many union leaders have expressed strong resentment at Lord Keyes’s remarks. The president of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (Mr J. Cranwell) said Australian ship repairers often worked 48 hours in one shift. An examination of figures at one Australian ship repair base showed that recently 483 men averaged 84.7 hours a week. “If Lord Keyes has any comment to make on matters concerning the Royal Australian Navy it would be more appropriate if he communicated them to the Australian Government rather than make a provocative public statement,” said Mr Makin. “Operational aspects are so closely associated with the details of this subject that I am not prepared to make a public statement at present. I regard it as most inexcusable for any other person sharing equal responsiblities to do otherwise.” A meeting of 300 dockyadr workers in Sydney protested against Lord Keyes’s remarks, declaring them to be “unfair to Australian dockyard workers and particularly those in Sydney, where work has progressed continuously for 24 hours a day since the outbreak of war.”

Lord Keyes has replied to their protest, saying he would be delighted to put “the fighting man’s case” before them. His offer has been accepted, and he has been promised a courteous hearing. The dockyard men will ask Lord Keyes to hear their views.