MORE STOKERS.

Grey River Argus, 3 November 1928, Page 5

MORE STOKERS.

Needed on Tofua. CREW’S STAND OVERRULED. (Per Press Association). AUCKLAND, November 2. No crew is yet available for the Tofua, scheduled io leave for an Island trip to-morrow, owing to a dispute with he seamen over the number and nationality of the crew. AUCKLAND, November 2. When the crew was being signed on the articles of the steamer Tofua thi* morning, a dispute arose regarding the •Himber of stokers. The men refused to sign- The Union demand was that six extra stokers should be signed on, thereby increasing the manning scale' to that necessary for four boilers in stead of only three boilers. The com-, p: ny emphatically declined to accede to the request, because, they said, in th'’ past the fourth boiler on the Tofua has been used only on the return vuy. ages from Fiji to. Auckland, and that to cope with this extra firing, Fiji firemen have been engaged at Suva a. award rates. Particulars of the dispute were tele graphed to the head office of thr Sea men’s Union in Wellington. A reply was received, in the afternoon, which instructed the men to sign on the vessel. This reply was di ■‘•cussed at a meet ing of the local union. It was then decided to relinquish the demand for the extra stokers, and to carry out the instructions from Wellington.