ALL MINES WORKING

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 August 1946, Page 7

ALL MINES WORKING

- NEW SOUTH WALES COAL PRODUCTION APPEALS MADE TO MINERS SYDNEY, August 8. For the first time since June 7, every colliery in New South Wales is working - to-day. This is the fourth day this year that all the mines have been in operation, the other two being January 11 and 25. To-day’s clean sheet follows appeals by miners’ leaders, the Government, and fellow unionists whose jobs are in jeopardy. The Central Industrial Authority (Mr. A. C. Willis) told the miners’ conference that a mine worker who refused to accept union discipline was as much a scab as a strike breaker. The Miners’ Central Council, which resumed its deliberations to-: day, is expected to approve the Coal Industry Bill. State Labour Ministers were outspoken to-day about the impending chaos because of the coal and transport crisis. The Deputy-Premier (Mr. J. M. Baddeley), who is Minister of Mines and was the first general president of the Miners’ Federation, told the coal miners that they must put their shoulders to the wheel because 25,000 workers might lose their jobs next week. At a meeting of the State Parliamentary Labour Party, the Minister of Transport (Mr. J. O’Sullivan) said that thousands would soon be unemployed unless emergency measures were taken to bring timber to Sydney. The railways had only enough coal to haul 15,900 trucks a week, which meant that they could not transport steel, timber, cement, sand, metal, gravel concentrates, or lime. • ' Mr. F. G. Hamilton reported to the meeting that unless transport were made available to carry fodder to stock in drought-stricken northwest New South. Wales, stock ivalued at £1,000,000 would'jdie within a fortnight. " , . . , Arrangements to use shipping to move timber from the North Coast > have been announced.