HUTT DISPUTE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 89, 14 March 1941, Page 6

HUTT DISPUTE

MINISTER ANSWERS CRITICS. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, March 14. “My attention has been drawn to a statement in the Wellington papers reporting that approximately 200 returned soldiers concerned in the dispute at the Hutt Workshops attended a meeting at which exception was taken to my remarks regarding the trouble makers in the workshops,” said the Minister of Railways (Hon. RSemple), to-day. “How returned Soldiers can twist my remarks to take them as a challenge against the loyalty of the returned soldiers is beyond mo. It is as absurd as it is ridiculous. After quoting what he had said, Mr Semple said he never had the faintest idea that any returned soldiers were associated with the handful to whom he had referred. He had made it abundantly clear, he said, that his remarks did not apply to the rank and file of the workers. He did say that there were a few men in the workshops who were associated with the Communist movement; therefore, lie had nothing to withdraw and no apologies to make for what he had said.

“1 have said many times that Communists and those associated witli them are vassals of a foreign organisation and their presence in the country is a menace, because they belong to wreckers and not to builders,” said Mr Semple. “T would be sorry to think the returned soldiers or any other loyal citizens would ally themselves with such a group. In fact, I would be loath to believe it.” STRIKE SETTLED.

The strike at Woburn lias been settled, according to an announcement made by the Minister of Railways, on tile following Government terms: “The Government accepts the statement that the national executives of the A.S.R.S. and of the It.T.A. regret that any action of their members was carried out in an unconstitutional manner. The Government has further decided to permit Hutt Workshops employees to resume duty under tne conditions existing prior to their refusal to. work on Saturday mornings. The men concerned will be expected to resume before Monday, March 17. Any member not commencing before that date, except in the case of illness, will be considered as being absent without leave and his name will be written off the books accordingly-”