THE FREEZING DISPUTE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4959, 23 February 1937, Page 4

THE FREEZING DISPUTE

OVER-RIDING THE AWARD. STRONG CONDEMNATION. "The opinion of farmers in the Auckland Province coincides with that of southern farmers as expressed in resolutions passed at recent conferences in the south," said Mr. R. H. McKenzie, chairman of directors of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, in commenting on resolutions passed at recent dairy conferences in the South Island condemning the action of the Government during the freezing works dispute. "Waikato farmers hold the same opinion as regards the interference by the Government with the police in their obvious duty of ejecting the strikers from the freezing works during the stay-in strike and also in regard to the action of the Minister in over-riding the award fixed by the Arbitration Court," he continued. "The action taken was an exceedingly dangerous precedent calculated to make the position of employers intolerable. "There is also an opinion among all shades of political thought that the farming community, .should be compensated for "all increases in costs subsequent to the guaranteed price scheme being brought into operation," continued Mr. McKenzie. The price was calculated on the weighted average over the preceding ten years. Surely it was an inequity that costs, which were made up almost entirely of labour, should have been computed on the same basis.