NEW YORK BUSINESS SHUT-DOWN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21945, 13 February 1946, Page 5

NEW YORK BUSINESS SHUT-DOWN

FUEL SHORTAGE ORDER BY MAYOR TUG STRIKE EFFECT VITAL SERVICES ALLOWED (9 a.m.) NEW YORK, Feb. 12. The Mayor of New York, Mr W. O’Dwyer, ordered all the ' city’s commercial, business and industrial establishments, theatres, night clubs, bars and other places of amusement to close at midnight last night until further notice due to the fuel shortage caused by _ a week’s tugboat strike. The city schools are already closed.

Public utilities, transportation, communications and health services are excluded from the order, but transpor-

tation facilities will be rigidly limited and traffic schedules curtailed.

Persons not engaged in priority occupations have been asked to refrain from using such facilities. The tug-boat employers so far have not agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration. Other exemptions from the order are grocers, restaurants, bakeries, butcheries, milk plants, chemists, petrol filling stations, newspapers and press services. New York City gets most of its oil and coal by boat across the Hudson from New Jersey and, since the strike began, supplies have dwindled to a point where yesterday, with a maximum temperature of 37 degrees, many homes and offices were without heat. ■ Mr. O’Dwyer's proclamation, which was broadcast from all stations, directed all persons working on the premises ordered to shut down and in unexempted industries to stay away from the premises. The proclamation directed the closings ‘‘irrespective of the type of fuel used and regardless of the available supplies on hand.” The police went round the city ordering the premises to be closed. Churches are allowed to remain open, but will not receive fuel.