A STORMY CONFERENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17329, 28 November 1919, Page 9

A STORMY CONFERENCE.

IMPUTATION RESENTED. AN OBDURATE UNIONIST. REFUSAL TO WITHDRAW WORDS. An unpleasant scene, arising from reflections made by the secretary to the Auckland Butchers' Union, Mr. W. E. Sill, upon witnesses who have appeared before the Arbitration Court on the side of Auck- ' land employers, occurred at the conference | held yesterday afternoon with a view to '. the settlement of the meat-trade strike. Mr. Sill was dilating upon mistakes which, ho said, had been made by the Arbitration Court, and went on to state that the Court had not received much assistance from the employers' side towards rectifying these errors. "You have always said," he proceeded, "that you arc losing money, but your business is growing every day." Mr. S. E. Wright, advocate for the I Master Butchers' Association: The em- : plovers have given sworn evidence, which J you say was perjury, that they were not making money. Mr. Sill: The employers make statements to the Court that they are losing money. I say that these statements are not true. Mr. Wright : That means perjury. You say they are committing perjury? Mr. Sill: I repeat that every time, in Court, they say they are losing money. I will repeat that in that respect it was not true. Mr.Wright: A man who will make that statement is not worthy of being listened to or having the slightest reliance placed on his -word. Employers About to Betire Th« Conciliation Commissioner. Mr. T. Harle Giles: I do not think, Mr. Sill, you have the right to say that the employers :;.re speaking falsely. You might say simply that they make statements contrary to those you make. That is »J1 there is in it. Mr. Sill: They go there and make statements and the Court bases its decisions

[ upon the evidence given. I am not surprised, in some respects, because the em- , plovers have repeatedly told half-truths, ■ and 1 expect the Court have to do the rest. I have heard statements from the employers which were absolutely untrueMr. Wright (rising): We refuse to sit any longer with Mr. Sill when he makes I these statements. | The Commissioner (to the employers): i Gentlemen, out of respect for me, I ask j you to keep your seats. Mr. Wright": No. We refuse to °t&y any longer unless Mr. Sill withdraws his statements. The Commissioner (to Mr. Sill): You must withdraw that statement. Mr. Sill: I repeat v. hat I said before. I am not going to withdraw it. I Here th* whole row of employers' representatives were on their ;'set and gathering up their papers. I The Commissioner, addressing the employers, said he considered t«,ey would be justified in retiring unless Mr. Sill with- . drew his words. Tie again asked Mr. Sill to da so, or else leave *kr. room. Mr. Sill: I'll leave the conference. I'm only too p'ewed to v -t out. i Suiting vhe action U-- his words, Mr. Si!! picked up his papers and, after whispering to one of his co-delegates, left- the "h vmber. j The commissioner said he did not think ; any gentleman of the union would associst». himself with Mr." Sill's statement. Aititnde of Union Delegates. Mr. J. Jarrett said they were unaware I of what had happened in Court, and they ' could not say whether there was reason ! for Mr. Sill's statement. Mr. Sill was a I man who. when he had an opinion, would I express it, no matter what came of his I doing so. Ho was sure that, rightly or I wrongly. Mr. Sill honestly believed, bo was stating the truth. The Commissioner . But you can see that a statement of that kind cannot be tolerated at a conference such as this. Mr. Jarrett said the othw delegates of ti.e unio-.< -».-ere willing to sit on. if the repiesentat.ives of the employers were, though he was afraid it would be of no use. The Commissioner: Tf one of the employe)?' representatives made a similar rtatement 1 would have acted in the Ss.rae I way, had the representatives of the union ! taken exception to it. I Representatives of the union acquiesced in the propriety of the commissioner's hcI tion, and the conference ;.at on for another quarter of an hoar, but no further progress I was made toward a settlement of the strike problem. i problem. WATERSIDE CONDITIONS. MEAT STILL ON THE WHARF. FAILURE OF MEDIATION. In accordance with the instructions of the, Secretary of Labour, the concilia*'

1 commissioner, Mr. T. Harle Giles, used , his best endeavours yesterday to induce , the waterside workers to load the tinned I and keg meat portion of the Talune's cargo I tor the Islands, but without result. The action of the men being unofficial, as far as their union officials are concerned, Mr. Giles met a number of the men at the wharves a.nd they informed him that they, out, of .sympathy with the butchers, were not handling the meat. He pointed out to them that they were running the risk of heavy penalties nnder the Wat Regula- ' tions, which were still in force. The only promise he obtained, however, was that they would load the meat if the butchers agreed. Mr. Giles then got into touch with a number of the Labour candidates for Parliament, who joined their influence with his in the endeavour to persuade the men. The secretary to the Butchers' Union then agreed to call a. meeting of the union to consider the question and eventually a reply was received that the butchers did not want the moat to be handled. A small quantity had been placed on ' board the Talune, hut without giving any ! reason the waterside workers again concentrated their attention.'- on the. other lines of cargo and continued to do so throughout the da... As the Talune's de , parture has been delayed until to-day owing to the seamen refusing to sail until they had recorded their votes in the Parliamentary elections, there is still time for wiser councils to prevail.