THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 26 August 1924, Page 9

THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY.

l;l YEARS W ITIIUET A STRIKE

A gathering unique in many respnets was neld at Hie hotel Cecil' Loudon, when the joint councils of the Shipping Dederaticn, Ltd., and the National Sailors’ and Firemen’s t'nion sat down at what was desemred as an “Industrial Peace Luncheon,’' with Loid tiuniliam in the chair. Over 400 persons were present.

Lora Inch cape proposed the health oi thechairman, and said he hoped the spirit ot conciliation and compromise vnicii existed between the employe's and employed in the shipping industry would eventually .spread in ” all directions. They wanted to keep the British flag the predominant nag in all the ports of tne world, and he asked them to believe that shipowners were not out to despoil their crews. They wauled to see the crews’ condition easy in every way, to see them comfortable, well i loused, and their safety ensured as far as was humanely possible; and they also wanted to see‘them well paid. But if the expenses oi the shifts oxceeded their eairnings, money would cease to come into ships, and" the industry would eventually go down. Mr John Hodge, president of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, proposed .the toast of “The National Maritime Board,’’ and referred to the fact that the shipping industry ha followed the good example of the iron and steel trades in realising that shrikes and lock-outs were had generally. In these latter days, he said, employers in all industries were looking at tilings irom a different point of view. They realised that the workman had an interest in the industry just as much as the employer, and the more that idea could he developed the hotter it would he !o,r the country as a whole. (Cheers).

Sir Shadforth Watts and Mr Havelock "Wilson replied. Mr Wilson, to whose work laird Inoheane hud paid a warm tribute, was received with cheers lasting several minutes.

Lord Burnham described those joint councils as the embodiment of fair play, and inspired bv the good sense and feeling which they had always boasted was u characteristic of their race. When they realised that for 13 years there iiad been no strike in the shipping trade they could visualise what that meant to the sum total of their national prosperity.