Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1944 MINING DISPUTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 39, 14 January 1944, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1944 MINING DISPUTES.

Since work ceased at the Wallsend mine on the West Coast in December to enable the miners to enjoy a holiday over the Christmas and New Year period, no coal had been hewn up till this morning. When operations were due to commence again the miners decided not to work as a protest against the withdrawal of certain men to meet Army requirements. Notwithstanding the illegality of this action the Government appeared to take little if any notice of it, and no determined steps were taken to end the dispute when coal is so urgently required for industrial enterprise. No fewer than 160 men are employed at the Wallsend mine and the daily output is 250 tons: As the dispute dragged on the crisis was precipitated by the action of the men at the Liverpool and Strongman State collieries joining 4 the strikers, and on Wednesday the Dobson miners added their weight to the dispute and their production to the volume remaining in the mines. The daily loss was increased to 1600 tons, a very serious matter and one demandiug the urgent attention of the Government. This came in the belated visit to the West Coast of the acting Minister of Mines, the Minister of Industrial Manpower, and the Secretary for Mines, who persuaded the miners to return to work, though yesterday the Dobson mine only resumed operations. For that decision the country will be relieved, but it assuredly has the right to ask why a dispute which seemed so trivial should have been allowed "to drift and create n grave position in the West Coast industry. There was no restriction upon travelling during' the recent holidays and large quantities of coal were consumed by the many trains to convey holidaymakers all over the countryside. Depleted stocks and the strikes in the Greymouth area were the reason given by the Minister of Railways in announcing that severe restrictions would again be imposed on rail travel and the cari'iage of goods as from Monday next. The last occasion on which similar regulations were imposed was in September, 1942, when the Waikato miners were on strike. Should the situation in the mines improve, the Minister has promised to review the decision; in that event it may not be necessary to impose such drastic restrictions as first intended. They cause hardship to a section of the community not concerned with the miners' trouble—the great third party, the public, who must always suffer in a strike and whose rights receive no consideration from strikers. The Government has passed regulations to ensure the continuity of work in essential industries, of which coal mining is one, but having conveniently passed them over . at various times they are now a dead letter in many respects. It has itself to blame for tins trouble, but the public have to suffer the consequences.