A.S.R.S. GIVES NOTICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17457, 29 April 1920, Page 5

A.S.R.S. GIVES NOTICE.

TO TAKE EFFECT FORTHWITH.

MEAGRE SUBURBAN SERVICES.

WAIKATO COAL MINES CLOSED.

The railway strike has spread to the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, which comprises employees in the traffic and stores, maintenance, and workshops branches. The president and the secretary of this society sent a telegram to the Minister for Railways last night intimating that members of the society employed in the North Island would join the strike forthwith. This intimation means that the whole of the railway employees in the North Island except the First Division, comprising the professional and clerical staffs, are on strike. The strikers, therefore, number about 6000 men. All the members of the locomotive branch in the North Island have come out on strike in accordance with the instructions of their executive.*. Practically all train services have been suspended, a few suburban trains only being run in Auckland and Wellington. All goods traffic throughout the North Island is at a standstill. Long-distance trains which w.ere running when the strike commenced were taken to their destinations, with the result that two expresses arrived from Wellington yesterday, as usual. - The Taupiri mines and the Pukemiro collieries closed down yesterday, as no trucks for the carriage of coal can be secured. A meeting of the Cabinet was held in Rotorua yesterday to discuss the strike situation. The Prime Minister left for Wellington immediately afterwards by motor-car. The Auckland tramways and electric light services may have to be curtailed almost immediately unless supplies of coal can be obtained, and a cessation of these services is a probability of the future. Arrangements are being made for the carriage of limited mail? by motor-cars to the centres previously served by the railway