MINE SAFETY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21634, 10 February 1945, Page 4

MINE SAFETY

WAIKATO DISPUTE SIGNS OF SPREADING LOSS OF PRODUCTION ip.A.i AUCKLAND, Feb. 10. The decision that all the miners in the Waikato coalfields would support the MacDonald men was made at a mass meeting of miners in Huntly yesterday. This decision, if carried into effect, will cause a daily loss of production of about 3500 tons ot coal. The miners do not normally work on Saturdays and Sundays. A meeting between the district council of the Northern Miners' Union and the managers of ail mines was to be held in Huntly this morning to discuss the position.

Yesterday week, when a section of the MacDonald miners questioned the safety of one place in tire mine the men asked the union for a mass meeting to discuss the dispute, but their request was not granted until Thursday and they have remained idle throughout ihe week.

The Glen Alton miners, who are controlled by Hie same company, have remained idle for four days and the Pukemiro rnen have not worked for two days. They have supported the MacDonald men in their dispute. Tlie meeting, which was held yesterday. lasted from 9.30 a.m. to 2.45 p.m. ’ Men from all the mines in the district which were idle flocked into Huntly at an early hour. A representative of Glen Alton Collieries, Limited, which controls the Glen Alton and MacDonald mines, said yesterday that the management had already agreed to cease operalions at the place which had caused the dispute and to transfer the. men concerned to another area. It was a'.so suggested during the week that the matter be placed in the hands of the Disputes Committee, which is representative of men and the management. The men refused these proposals. The place about which the miners complained had been inspected by the national check inspector, Mr. J. Devlin, who is a representative of the New Zealand Mine Workers’ Union, and by the inspector ol coal mines, Mr. IT. H. Schoen, said the speaker. Both officials had pronounced the area as safe.