THE WAIHI DISPUTE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 12 June 1912, Page 5

THE WAIHI DISPUTE

MR HOWARD'S ALLEGATIONS

BY TELEGRAPH—PBRSft ASSOCIATION

WAIHI, June 11

Further proof of the inaccuracy of the allegations made, by Mr Howard, president of the General Laborers' Union of Canterbury, are furnished by the Waihi Engine Drivers' Union executive. Mr Howard stated that the majority of the drivers on the field were not members of the new union, nor sympathetic with it, and that the employers were responsible for its formation. Detailed figures show that the total number of engine-drivers employed is 71, of whom eight are members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, already under the Arbitration Act. The new union's membership totals 42, thus leaving only 21 drivers who are not under the Arbitration Act. Of these some have adopted a neutral attitude towards the dispute. To the allegations that the employers were in any way responsible for the new union, the executive gives an emphatic denial, and challenges Mr Howard to disprove its figures and statements.