TWO HUNDRED MEN IDLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18635, 29 April 1924, Page 6

TWO HUNDRED MEN IDLE.

GRAND JUNCTION MINE. EFFECT OF CLOSING DOWN. . HARDSHIP THREATENED. QUEST FOR RAILWAY WORK. [by TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.} WAIHI. Monday. A considerable number of the battery workers in the employ of the Waihi Grand Junction Gold Company were paid off at the end of the week, and the complete cessation of crushing is expected in the course of a few days. The final closing of the mill will bring the number of workers rendered idle to something like 200, of whom so fr.r the Waihi Gold Mining Company, which has been fully manned tor some time past, has been able to find room for about a. dozen, with little prospect for the time being at least of absorbing many more. A few single men have gone away, but the, balance of the men thrown out of work are still waiting to ascertain whether it will be possible to find employment on the Waihi-Athenree section of the East Coast railway or on the section between Ivatikati and Te Puna, the construction of which is to be undertaken by the Armstrong, Whitworth Company, shortly. The Mayor of Waihi, Mr. W. M. Wallnutt, and the secretary of the Miners' Union had made arrangements to go vo Wellington to interview the Prime Minister and the Minister for Public Works in the hope of getting an immediate start for the men on these works, but they have delayed their* mission pending some indication of a settlement of the railway strike. They will, however, make the trip at the earliest possible moment, as there are already cases of distress in the town, and the position will become very acute shortly unless provision can be made for those out of work, the majority of whom are married men with families.