CABINET SITS TIGHT,

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 28 April 1924, Page 5

CABINET SITS TIGHT,

NO HURRY TO TREAT WITH MEN

EVOLVING OTHER PLANS.

/ THE HOPES OF THE MEN.

WELLINGTON, April 28. Though the railway strike is almost in the second week the prospects for successful negotiations are not at present favourable. This opinion is based on the fact that if the Government had been extremely anxious to take up the men's offer of a board of commercial men to report, first, on wages, a meeting of Cabinet could have been held some time during Saturday, despite the I necessities of hospitality which took I the Minister to Trentham races in honour of the fleet. There was an ! evening function of the Orphans' Club, to Which the Ministers wer^g invited, but had there been a keen desire to scure any settlement on the lines suggested by the men an opportunity could doubtless have been found ,for a Cabinet gathering, as these take place at all sorts of unusual hours. Cabinet, as a matter of fact, sat late the previous Saturday night in the hope of making arrangements for a second board. Rumqurs are prevalent that the-deputa-tion of Petone ministers and the Mayor of Petone, who urged the Premier and Minister of Railways to reopen negotiations, had a disappointing reception, and several. business men who fear an extension of the strike and who also urged the Government to again negotiate before further developments occurred were given plainly to understand that there must be no interference. The Government apparently is anxious to give the railwaymen a lesson regarding the serious risks they run* by striking. A high official of the Department, when asked what effect the week's broken time would have upon the strikers' superannuation prospects, replied: "They will see something rfbout that on their pay envelopes." Obviously the official plan is to utilise motor transport to reduce the most severe hardships due to the tie-up of the railways and to restore the train services as labour becomes available. The men's trial comes this week, as they have no strike pay, though possibly arrangements could be made from the Society's funds to meet the most severe cases of hardship. Their next hope would lie in an extension of the trouble, a development which could only be proved if the Railway Department obtains sufficient trained railwayman to ran the goods services. Relatively the latter are more important from a revenue viewpoint than passengers. Commercial interests were not sriously prejudiced, by last week's holdup owing to the number of holidays. However, with a full resumption of business, there is likely to be strong pressure from the business interests to induce hoih sides to explore the possibilities of peaceful settlement on terms which woald enable a prompt resumption of traffic, leaving the details of settlement to be evolved later. It must be repeated that the Government's leisurely treatment of the men's latest offer to negotiate is an indication of its preference for strong measures.