QUEENSLAND MOVE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22582, 10 March 1948, Page 5

QUEENSLAND MOVE

BILL TO UPHOLD ORDER RAIL STRIKE SEQUEL (11.30 a.m.) BRISBANE, March 10. The Queensland Premier, Mr. A. M. Hanlon, told the State Parliament that he will introduce a bill as soon as possible “to uphold industrial order.” The House was heavily guarded by police when members assembled for the first time since the rail strike began on February 2. The public galleries were crowded, there being a large percentage of plain-clothes police and trainees outside. The police were prepared for another march on the House by the striking railwaymen and watersiders but none eventuated.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Nicklin, moved the adjournment to discuss the strike. He strongly criticised the Government for failing to end the dispute. “We need more than words to end the strike,” he added.

Mr. Hanlon: What do you suggest—-tommy-guns?

Every day more strikers are accepting Mr. Hanlon’s claim that the Communists are directing the strike. Mr. Hanlon states that at least three of the principjal districts involved can be represented on a committee and given power to talk to him. The estimated cost of the strike to Queensland Government railways is £1,421,000. The railwaymen have lost £663,000 in wages and 4000 members of the Amalgamated Engineering Union have drawn about £32,000 in strike pay. The watersiders have lost £48,000 in leave credits and £IB,OOO in wages. Under police protection storemen and packers have resumed work at the Shell depots after voting against a “black” ban on petrol. The wool sales in Sydney, Newcastle and Goulburn have been postponed indefinitely because of the shipping holdup in Brisbane. The New South Wales Road Transport Department has asked the Federal Liquid Fuel Board for petrol for an emergency truck supply service into strike-bound Queensland.