MINE RAPIDLY FLOODING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20962, 27 August 1931, Page 10

MINE RAPIDLY FLOODING.

STRIKE AT HIKURANGI. ALL THE PUMPS REMOVED. CONFERENCE WITH DIRECTORS. MEN'S DELEGATES ON THE WAY. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WHANGAREI. Wednesday. The position due to the strike of the miners who were employed in the colliery of Wilsons (N.Z.) Portland Cement Company, Limited, at Hikurangi is now serious. A visit to the mine this afternoon • disclosed a scene approaching desolation. All the electric motors used for the pumps have been closed down, as it was ~ not found possible to keep them going by the unaided labours of tho small official staff. ' One boiler is still being fired to maintain ventilation. All the pumps have been removed from the mine. The last one was brought to the surface at 30 a.m. to-day. In addition to the pumps, all the gear used in connection with them has been removed from the mine, and the work of removing all other gear, including the electric cable, will be commenced tomorrow morning. No water is being pumped from the mine and as a result it is rapidly flooding. What this means can be appreciated by the fact that approximately 1,400,000 gallons of water daily are accumulating in the 'workings. Fully two-thirds of the men who were employed in the mine before the strike are married, and it is estimated that the loss in wages to the miners is more than £IOO a day. The miners met again this morning to consider tho offer of tho directors of the company to meet the representatives of the men at Auckland. It was decided to ask the directors to hold the conference at Hikurangi, and a telegram embodying that request was despatched, the meeting being adjourned until 4 p.m. The reply of the directors was then received. It was to the effect that, owing to business arrangements, they could not meet the men's representatives at Hikurangi. The miners thereupon decided to send the following representatives to meet the directors of the company at Auckland at 2.15 p.m. to-morrow: —Messrs. J. Piatt, president of the Hikurangi Miners' Union; C. Latham, 'secretary of the union; and H. Hikurangi's representative on the National United Mine Workers' Union. These delegates will leave for Auckland by this evening's steamer. Mr. G. Davidson, manager of the mine, also will leave by the steamer in order to be in attendance at the conference.